Rome: Defending champion Rafael Nadal swept past Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 in the men’s singles to advance to his first final on clay this season at the Italian Open tennis tournament here Saturday. The eight-time Rome winner had been stunned by the Greek sensation, seeded eighth, in the semifinals at the Madrid Open last weekend.
On the other hand, in the women’s segment Britain’s Johanna Konta fought back from a set down to seal victory on her fourth match point against Kiki Bertens to reach the final.
But the 32-year-old Spaniard was clinical on the red clay of the Foro Italico winning through in 1 hour and 42 minutes to maintain his record of having not dropped a set this week. Nadal next plays either World No.1 Novak Djokovic or Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who meet in the second semifinal.
Tsitsipas, who showed his frustration as he argued a line call with the umpire in the second set, had 27 unforced errors to just 17 winners and struggled to find a foothold in the match after making a poor start, with Nadal throwing in some spectacular shots at key moments.
The early games proved crucial in the first set, with Nadal taking a tightly contested opener, breaking with his first opportunity with a beautiful forehand down the line, before saving two break points to go 3-0 up.
There were no chances for either player from then on, and the World No.2 dug in while serving for the set, recovering from 0-30 down and needing only one set point to move in front thanks to an unreturned serve.
Nadal missed his first two chances to move ahead in game three of the second set, but made no mistake when another Tsitsipas error gave him a third break chance, with the Greek finding the net in reply to a thumping forehand.
Tsitsipas did at least hold three times from there to force Nadal to serve the match out, but the 32-year-old did exactly that without dropping a point as he converted the first of his three match points when his opponent sent a return long, reaching his 50th Masters 1000 final.
Earlier Friday, Djokovic saved two match points to beat former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to advance to the semifinals in a three-set Roman thriller. “I had luck in the decisive moments in the second set tiebreak,” said the 31-year-old.
“He was playing really well, gave me a lot of trouble. But I never lost faith. I’m just really pleased to overcome,” the four-time Rome winner said.
Konta, ranked 42, came through 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 against sixth seed Bertens, winner of the Madrid Open last week, after almost three hours on the red clay of Rome.
The Briton next meets Czech fourth seed Karolina Pliskova who defeated Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-4 in straignt sets. Konta also became the first British woman to reach the final of the tournament since Virginia Wade in 1971.