Staff Reporter.
Rafael Nadal secured his place in the Italian Open final with a 6-4 6-4 win over American Reilly Opelka.
Nadal levelled at 2-2 in the first set after saving four break points and then broke his big-hitting rival in the next game before going on to claim the set.
One break of serve was also enough for the 34-year-old Spaniard in the second set as he secured victory in Rome.
Nadal will play either world number one Novak Djokovic or Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the final.
“I did the thing that I had to do today,” Rafa said in his post-match interview. “It is not an easy, beautiful match to play and against a player like Reilly, you aren’t going to have rhythm. You know you are going to have just a few options on your return and you know he can play very aggressive from the baseline. That is what happened at the beginning of the match. He had some options for the break and it was super important for me to save those moments.”
Djokovic came from a set down to beat Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in their rain-affected quarter-final.
The Serb trailed 6-4 2-1 when the match was suspended because of rain on Friday, but broke serve twice when it resumed on Saturday to force a decider.
He then twice recovered from a break down in a see-saw final set to win 4-6 7-5 7-5 and reach the last four.