The Spaniard scored a stunning 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 triumph over the world No.1, taking the last nine games of the match, in stark contrast to the two four-set battles he edged to see off Federer in the two previous finals.
Federer was powerless to stop the barrage of heavy top spin fired at him as he slumped to a demoralizing hiding. If he was a rapier, Nadal was a sledgehammer and in that match-up there was only ever going to be one winner.
Nadal has now won all 28 matches he has played at Roland Garros and having just turned 22, he is well on his way to replacing Borg as the greatest claycourt player of all time. He did not drop a set all fortnight.
"Sorry for Roger, but to win here is incredible and especially to win this tournament four times," he said after receiving the trophy from the hands of six-times winner Borg.
"I didn't expect a match like this, but I played an almost perfect match and Roger made more mistakes than usually.
"But I am still the number two and closer to the number three than the number one."
For 26-year-old Federer it was another dark day in the City of Light.
He came into Paris looking to join the history-makers as just the sixth man to have won all four Grand Slam titles. He leaves with the sorry record of being the only player in Grand Slam history to lose to the same player in three consecutive finals.
"I would like to have won more than four games but Rafa has played an incredible tournament and he fully deserves to win," he said. "But I'll be back to try again next year and I am looking forward to the rest of this year."
Perfect playing conditions greeted the start of the match but clear crowd favorite Federer got off to the worst of possible openings when he dropped his serve and then squandered two break points in the following game.
He saved two break points to open his account in the third game, but muscleman Nadal stepped on the accelerator reeling off four games in a row with two more service breaks to take the set 6-1.
Nadal, wearing the lime-green shirt he has favored throughout the fortnight, opened the second set with a love service game and then promptly broke Federer for the third time in a row as the world No.1's famed forehand badly misfired.
There was then a brief moment of hope for Federer's many fans as he nailed his first service break of the final and leveled at 2-2.
Attacking the net with more regularity, Federer got the crowd going when he had a break point on the Nadal serve to lead 4-3, but failed to take it when he ran down a deft drop shot but could only net the return.
He paid a heavy price in the following game when he let slip a 30-0 lead and Nadal gleefully grabbed a vital break on his fourth break point. The Spaniard comfortably served out for a two sets to love lead.
There was no respite for Federer from the pounding and he promptly dropped his serve to open the third set trudging off disconsolately for the changeover.
Nadal was in total command bludgeoning Federer with his groundstrokes when he stayed back and rifling his passing shots beyond him when he came into the net.
A sixth break of serve in the third game and Nadal was home and dry at 4-0 ahead having won seven games in a row against a demoralized opponent.
The end to Federer's misery came two games later when the Swiss star hit long under pressure from another powerful Nadal forehand.
It was the second-most lopsided French Open final ever after that of 1977 when Brian Gottfried won just three games off Guillermo Vilas.
Both players will now head for the grass of Wimbledon where Federer can turn the tables on Nadal by beating him in the final for the third straight year, if the seeding is proved to be accurate.
"I am going to look forward to grass and hopefully the second half of the season will be better than the first," he said. "Losing this way today will not have a big negative effect on me."
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