Claycourt king... Rafael Nadal won his eighth French Open title yesterday.

A bare-chested protester who jumped on to court with a red flare and the dogged resistance of fellow Spaniard David Ferrer could not stop an irrepressible Rafa Nadal from storming to a record eighth French Open title with a 6-3 6-2 6-3 win yesterday.

The claycourt king was left startled in the sixth game of the second set when a man wearing a white mask leapt over from the stands and ran towards Nadal as he lit the flare.

The protester ran around waving the flare before he, and another bare-chested accomplice, were bundled away by security staff.

It was the second such interruption within the space of a few minutes as a man and a woman were also led away from high up in a different section of the stands after shouting protests and waving a banner declaring ‘Help! France tramples on children’s rights’.

At Roland Garros, though, Nadal revels on trampling on his opponents and as he became the first man to win the same major eight times, his record at the spiritual home of claycourt tennis stood at a jaw-dropping 59-1.

“I never dreamed about this kind of thing (winning eight titles),” third seed Nadal, who returned to the tour in February after seven months out with a knee injury, said before being handed the Musketeers’ Cup by Olympics 100 metres champion Usain Bolt.

Ferrer had to settle for receiving the loudest round of applause from the 15,000 fans and a runners-up cheque for €750,000.

“These two weeks I played very good tennis but I would like to say that he deserves everything, he’s the best,” Ferrer told the crowd.

The ugly incidents in the second set momentarily overshadowed Nadal’s relentless charge towards the title on an unseasonably cold day in Paris with the temperature stuck at 16 degrees Celsius.

The grey, dank and chilly atmosphere that greeted the players on Philippe Chatrier Court was certainly not to Nadal’s liking but he soon warmed to the task of grinding down an opponent whom he had trounced in their last 16 claycourt clashes.

Last 10 winners

2004: G. Gaudio (Argentina)
2005: R. Nadal (Spain)
2006: R. Nadal (Spain)
2007: R. Nadal (Spain)
2008: R. Nadal (Spain)
2009: R. Federer (Switzerland)
2010: R. Nadal (Spain)
2011: R. Nadal (Spain)
2012: R. Nadal (Spain)
2013: R. Nadal (Spain)