At the 2005 Australian Open, Nadal lost in the fourth round to eventual runner-up

Lleyton Hewitt. Two months later, he reached the final of the 2005 Miami Masters,
and despite being two points from a straight-sets victory, he was defeated in five
sets by No. 1 Roger Federer. Both performances were considered breakthroughs for
Nadal.[25][26]

He then dominated the spring clay court season. He won 24 consecutive singles
matches, breaking Andre Agassi's Open Era record of consecutive match wins for a
male teenager.[27] Nadal won the Torneo Conde de Godó in Barcelona and beat 2004
French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria in the finals of the 2005 Monte Carlo Masters
and the 2005 Rome Masters. These victories raised his ranking to No. 5[28] and made
him one of the favorites at his career-first French Open. On his 19th birthday,
Nadal defeated Federer in the 2005 French Open semifinals, being one of only four
players to defeat the top-seeded player that year (along with Marat Safin, Richard
Gasquet, and David Nalbandian). Two days later, he defeated Mariano Puerta in the
final, becoming the second male player, after Mats Wilander in 1982, to win the
French Open on his first attempt. He was the first teenager to win a Grand Slam
singles title since Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open at age 19.[5] Winning
improved his ranking to No. 3.[28]

Three days after his victory in Paris, Nadal's 24-match winning streak was snapped
in the first round of the grass court Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, where he
lost to Alexander Waske.[29] He then lost in the second round of 2005 Wimbledon to
Gilles Müller of Luxembourg. Immediately after Wimbledon, Nadal won 16 consecutive
matches and three consecutive tournaments, bringing his ranking to No. 2 on 25 July
2005. Nadal started his North American summer hard-court season by defeating Agassi
in the final of the 2005 Canada Masters, but lost in the first round of the 2005
Cincinnati Masters. Nadal was seeded second at the 2005 US Open, but was upset in
the third round by No. 49 James Blake in four sets.

In September, he defeated Coria in the final of the China Open in Beijing and won
both of his Davis Cup matches against Italy. In October, he won his fourth ATP
Masters Series title of the year, defeating Ivan Ljubičić in the final of the 2005
Madrid Masters. He then suffered a foot injury that prevented his competing in the
year-ending Tennis Masters Cup.[30]

Both Nadal and Federer won eleven singles titles and four ATP Masters Series titles
in 2005. Nadal broke Mats Wilander's previous teenage record of nine in 1983.[31]
Nine of Nadal's titles were on clay, and the remainder were on hard courts. Nadal
won 79 matches, second only to Federer's 81. Nadal won the Golden Bagel Award for
2005, with eleven 6–0 sets during the year.[32] Also, he earned the highest year-
end ranking ever by a Spaniard and the ATP Most Improved Player of the Year award.

2006: Second French Open title

Main article: 2006 Rafael Nadal tennis season
Nadal missed the Australian Open because of a foot injury.[33] In February, he lost
in the semifinals of the first tournament he played, the Open 13 tournament in
Marseille, France. Two weeks later, he handed Roger Federer his first loss of the
year in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open (in 2006, Rafael Nadal and Andy
Murray were the only two men who defeated Federer). To complete the spring hard-
court season, Nadal was upset in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian
Wells, California, by James Blake, and was upset in the second round of the 2006
Miami Masters.

On European clay, Nadal won all four tournaments he entered and 24 consecutive
matches. He defeated Federer in the final of the Masters Series Monte Carlo in four
sets. The following week, he defeated Tommy Robredo in the final of the Open
Sabadell Atlántico tournament in Barcelona. After a one-week break, Nadal won the
Masters Series Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating Federer in a fifth-
set tiebreaker in the final, after saving two match points and equaling Björn
Borg's tally of 16 ATP titles won as a teenager. Nadal broke Argentinian Guillermo
Vilas's 29-year male record of 53 consecutive clay-court match victories by winning
his first round match at the French Open. Vilas presented Nadal with a trophy, but
commented later that Nadal's feat was less impressive than his own because Nadal's
winning streak covered two years and was accomplished by adding easy tournaments to
his schedule.[34] Nadal went on to play Federer in the final of the French Open.
The first two sets of the match were hardly competitive, as the rivals traded 6–1
sets. Nadal won the third set easily and served for the match in the fourth set
before Federer broke him and forced a tiebreaker. Nadal won the tiebreaker and
became the first to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam tournament final.[35]