Victory of the Week is presented by Walmart.

Rafael Nadal added a 12th French Open title to his impressive resume on Sunday, beating Dominic Thiem in a rematch of last year's final. The set scores were 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Thiem gave the King of Clay a tough challenge, especially in the second set, but once Nadal pushed the tempo in the third, Thiem had no answers. 

Nadal has now won 18 Grand Slams, the second-highest total for a men's player. Only Roger Federer has more, with 20.

He came into this match having dominated his opponent on the Parisian clay:

Thiem did win their most recent outing in Barcelona, however, and had reasons to believe he could spring the upset.

The Austrian started well, keeping pace with Nadal in the rallies and varying the length of his shots to keep his opponent off balance.

The two traded four games on serve before Thiem found the early breakthrough, hitting several excellent winners. Tennis writer George Bellshaw liked what he saw:

Nadal immediately responded, however, winning the first three points of the next game and eventually breaking right back.

The Spaniard started to increase the pressure, and while Thiem did brilliantly in some of the rallies, the consistency of Nadal won out as the set wore on. He found another break in the eighth game, putting himself in a position to serve out the set.

Tennis fans and even fellow professionals couldn't believe how physical the contest was early:

The remarkably high standard continued in the second set, as fatigue didn't appear to be a factor for Thiem. The Austrian completed his semi-final win over Novak Djokovic on Saturday, and he needed five sets to do it.

But he hung in with the fresher Nadal before shocking the fans in attendance by breaking Nadal to take the second set 7-5:

But similar to the first set, Nadal bounced back from the setback in impressive fashion, winning 12 of the first 13 points in the third set and going up by a double break.

Nadal lost just one game in the set, putting him on the brink of a 12th French Open triumph.

The 33-year-old pushed his momentum into the fourth set as well, grabbing another early break. Thiem kept battling, earning praise from sportswriter Matt Zemek:

But he made no inroads on Nadal's serve, and when he dropped a second serve game of his own, the match was all but over. Nadal served out the contest with ease, winning his 12th French Open.