Rafael Nadal defeated a determined Novak Djokovic, 7-6(4) 6-3 to keep his record of never losing in the Rome semi-finals and advancing into the final.
The Spaniard had a cagey start as he was forced to save two break points in the first game as the Serb implemented his aggressive returns. The 11th seed forced Nadal into some epic rallies early on as Djokovic was looking to gain the biggest victory since his comeback from an elbow injury. However he couldn’t prevent the top seed for much longer as the ridiculous angles that Nadal created helped him to storm to a 5-2 lead.
Despite the deficit, Djokovic continued with his game plan of being aggressive and trying to use variety in his game, which worked to great effect as he came back to 5-5 and the comeback was met with massive cheers from the Italian crowd. As both men continued their brutal shot-making, neither could make the required break to seal the set, therefore the opening set went to a tense tiebreak.
The tiebreak produced end to end tennis that was of the highest order and despite Novak’s best efforts, it was poor tactical decision making that cost the Serb as a backhand down the line secured a long and thrilling set.
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The second set was much more comfortable for the ‘King Of Clay’ as he secured the early break to love with some brutal hitting that was too hot to handle for Djokovic. The early break didn’t disrupt the Serb as he continued his aggressive shots and was serving well to keep in touch with the world number two. The top seed survived a 10 minute game to keep his superior lead and eventually broke again to seal his 25th win over Novak Djokovic.
The win means that Nadal remains undefeated in Rome semi-finals, having won all 10 that he has been involved with. As for Djokovic he is slowly returning to his best form and showed real signs of outlasting the Spaniard however he had nothing to show from it as he goes into Roland Garros as the 21st seed.
Rafael Nadal will now play either Alexander Zverev or Marin Cilic in tomorrow’s final, where he could win back his world number one spot.
