TENNIS BUENOS AIRES – Rafa Nadal rallied from 1-6 by saving five set points in a thrilling tie-break to win the first set with 9-7. Rafa had to recover from 0-2 in the second set to clinch a hard-fought match with 6-2 in the second set. Nadal will face his friend Juan Monaco who edged Nicolas Almagro with 6-3 6-7 6-4 after a very tight semifinal. Diego Sampaolo
Nadal will be bidding for his 46th career title on clay. He is just one match-win away from equalling Guillermo Vilas’ record of clay court titles.
Berlocq was close to upsetting Nadal when he raced to 6-1 in the tie-break of the first set but the Mallorcan legend saved five set points and reeled off eight of his nine next points to clinch a dramatic first-set win with 9-7. Nadal dropped serve early in the second set to fall behind 0-2 but he bounced back reeling off six consecutive points for 6-2. Nadal is bidding to win his sixth clay title in four different tournaments of the Golden Swing after winning in Acapulco and Sao Paulo in 2005 and 2013 and Rio de Janeiro in 2014.
Nadal has reached his first final since he won his ninth Roland Garros title last June.
Juan Monaco returns to a a final of a ATP Tournament after battling past Nicolas Almagro in three hard-fought sets with 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 after saving 12 of 15 break points he faced. Monaco will be bidding to his second Buenos Aires title in his third appearance after winning in 2007 and reaching the final in 2009.
In the first set “Pico” Monaco was broken to love as he was serving for the set, but he won the first set with 6-3. The match changed completely in the second set where both players held serve until the 10th game when Almagro went down 15-40 as Monaco was leading 5-4. The Murcia player saved both match points in the 10th game and forced the second set to the tie-break. Monaco went up 3-0 with a double mini-break but Almagro did not give up and drew level to 3-3. Almagro recovered from 3-5 down in the breaker before clinching the second set on the second set point.
Almagro dropped his serve at the start of the third set. The decider went on serve until the sixth game when the Spanish player broke back. Almagro took the lead with 4-3 but dropped serve in the seventh game. Monaco rallied from 0-40 down while he was serving for the match at 5-4 before closing out at the third match point to reach his 20th final at ATP Tour level
