Djokovic, Nadal book titillating 6th Rome Masters final

Nadal, Djokovic another final clash on Sunday in Rome

Nadal, Djokovic another final clash on Sunday in Rome

Nadal, Djokovic another final clash on Sunday in Rome
Nadal, Djokovic another final clash on Sunday in Rome
Abankula with Agency Reports

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and clay court king Rafa Nadal will on Sunday clash for the Italian Open title for the sixth time.

This was after the top two seeds advanced to the final of the Masters tournament on Saturday.

Both top seeds had met at this stage of the competition, five times before, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2019.

Nadal won three of the finals, in 2009, 2012 and 2019. Djokovic won in 2011, and 2014.

Sunday’s clash will thus be a riveting affair.

Djokovic, who beat Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 4-6 7-5 7-5 in a rain-delayed quarter-final earlier in the day, was also stretched to three sets in the semi-final before overcoming local favourite Lorenzo Sonego.

Sonego, the first Italian to make the semi-finals in Rome in 14 years after he beat world number seven Andrey Rublev earlier on Saturday, had his dream run ended by Djokovic who triumphed 6-3 6-7(5) 6-2.

Related News

Djokovic failed to convert two match points in the second set that lasted 91 minutes as Sonego forced a tiebreak, where the Serb lost a 4-2 lead.

However, the world number one controlled proceedings in the decider and advanced after Sonego’s return on match point found the net.

Earlier, Nadal beat Reilly Opelka 6-4 6-4 to move into the final in Rome for the 12th time.

The match was Nadal’s 500th on clay where he has a formidable 458-42 record and the Spaniard advanced after twice breaking the big-serving American.

“When you play these kind of matches, you know it’s not going to be a beautiful match… you’re not going to find rhythm in the match. You’re going to have just a few chances to break,” Nadal told reporters.

“It’s important not to suffer much with your serve because if you are… you feel the stress all the time. So the positive thing today, I just faced break points in one game during the whole match.”

Djokovic was trailing Tsitsipas 6-4 2-1 when Friday’s quarter-final was halted by rain but theSerb raised his game at key moments to twice come back from a break down in the deciding set.

Djokovic has a 29-27 career record against Nadal but the Spaniard has won five of their eight matches in Rome.

Load more