The 10 most dominant tournament winning streaks in tennis's Open Era

The Monte Carlo Masters is just around the corner and Rafael Nadal's famed grip on the tournament is all set to mesmerize the tennis world yet again. Coming as that does on the heels of Serena Williams' recently strengthened hold on the Miami tournament, we thought now would be a good time to look at the most dominant single-tournament runs by players over the years.Disclaimer: Only Masters-level tournaments and above have been considered in this list.

#10 Serena Williams - Key Biscayne (Miami)

Serena Williams has taken quite a shine to the Sony Open in Key Biscayne, Miami, winning the tournament a record seven times.

Serena has also finished runner-up twice - once each to sister Venus and Victoria Azarenka.

Serena won three consecutive titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004. She then won two on the trot in 2007 and 2008, and is on a similar run at the moment, having won the tournament in 2013 and 2014.

#9 Rafael Nadal - Monte Carlo Masters

While Spaniards have traditionally done well on the clay courts at Monte Carlo, nobody has dominated the tournament like Rafael Nadal has done over the past decade.

Nadal has reached nine straight finals in Monaco from 2005 to 2013 and has won eight of them, which is by far the best record at the tournament. His only loss came to Novak Djokovic in 2013.

#8 Martina Navratilova - WTA Tour Championships

The WTA year-end championships have always been considered to be a bit like the fifth Grand Slam of the calendar, and Martina Navratilova ruled the roost at the tournament which was, for a long time, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York.

Navratilova won the prestigious tournament eight times, including five on the trot in the mid 80s. The American also finished runner-up six times in the singles and won 12 doubles titles!

#7 Bjorn Borg - French Open

The Ice Man Bjorn Borg was the standard against which every other player's claycourt exploits were measured.

Borg won the French Open at Roland Garros six times, including four straight from 1978-1981.

In 1974, Borg became the then-youngest winner of the French Open when he came back from two sets down in the finals to defeat Spain's Manuel Orantes in the final.

#6 Chris Evert - French Open

Former American World No. 1 Chris Evert won seven of her 18 Grand Slam singles titles on the clay at Paris.

The 'Ice Maiden' reached four straight finals at Roland Garros from 1983 to 1986, winning the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen on three occasions.

Though successful on all surfaces, it was on the clay courts in Paris where Evert was the most dominant.

#5 Steffi Graf - Wimbledon

German tennis legend Steffi Graf was sublime on all courts, but there was something magical about her on the greens at Wimbledon.

Graf won seven titles in nine years at SW19, which puts her second behind Martina Navratilova among the women for most number of Wimbledon titles won in the Open Era.

Graf contested three straight finals in the late 80s against a dominant Navratilova at Wimbledon, and came out on top twice.

#4 Roger Federer - Wimbledon

If there has been one name synonymous with Wimbledon in the past decade, it has to be Roger Federer.

The Swiss maestro has won the title at SW19 seven times, including five in a row from 2003-2007 when he was the world's most dominant player.

His battles in the finals against Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick in 2008 and 2009 respectively will go down as two of the best matches played in the tournament's history.

#3 Pete Sampras - Wimbledon

Pete Sampras was born to rule Wimbledon, and the lanky American went on to do just that.

Pistol Pete, as he was known, had a serve-and-volley game which was tailor-made for the quick grass courts at Wimbledon, and he established a stranglehold at the tournament in the 90s.

Sampras won seven times at Wimbledon in eight years from 1993-2000. That still stands as the (joint) record for most number of titles won at the tournament in the Open Era.

#2 Rafael Nadal - French Open

The past decade has seen the clay courts at Roland Garros being dominated like never before by the Spanish matador Rafael Nadal.

Nadal is set to enter his 10th French Open this year and has lost only one match at the tournament, to Robin soderling in 2009. A 59-1 win-loss record at the tournament speaks of the sheer mastery that Nadal has had over his opponents in Paris.

Nadal has won the 'Coupe des Mousquetaires' a record eight times.

#1 Martina Navratilova - Wimbledon

If you are looking for the single most dominant streak at a big tournament in tennis' Open Era, look no further than Martina Navratilova's run at Wimbledon in the 1980s.

Navratilova just swept everyone by the wayside at SW19 as she reached nine consecutive finals, winning 7 of them. She won a record nine titles overall at the tournament, which is the most number of titles won by any player at a Grand Slam.

Navratilova's first and last singles Major titles came at the hallowed courts at South-West London.