The latest installment in the rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on Saturday met expectations for one tight set. Then Nadal pulled away for a 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 win to reach the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final.
Nadal’s court coverage eventually proved too much to handle for Djokovic, who is still regaining his form from a right elbow injury.
“That was a tough battle, a good level of tennis, a combination of good tactics and great shots from both of us,” Nadal said.
Nadal’s opponent in yesterday’s final was to be defending champion Alexander Zverev, who recovered from an early break in the second set to beat Marin Cilic 7-6 (15/13), 7-5.
Zverev destroyed his racket near the end of the tiebreak in which he saved five set points.
“On this surface [Nadal] is almost unbeatable,” Zverev said. “I’ll have to play my best.”
On the women’s side, top-ranked Simona Halep rallied past three-time Rome champion Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 and is to again face Elina Svitolina for the trophy.
Svitolina comfortably defeated Anna Kontaveit 6-4, 6-3 in the other semi-final.
In last year’s final, Svitolina came back to beat Halep after the Romanian rolled her ankle.
The first set alone of Nadal-Djokovic made the Open era’s most prolific men’s rivalry worth watching. Djokovic recovered from an early break and Nadal converted his first set point with a return winner on the line, after Djokovic followed his serve to the net.
Fans stood up and applauded them on multiple occasions.
After losing the first set tiebreak, Djokovic started shouting at his support box in an apparent discrepancy over tactics — then did it again on the next changeover.
Djokovic noted that at 3-3 in the tiebreak, he had to go play against the wind, “which is a huge difference” when playing Nadal.
Still, this was Djokovic’s best performance of the year.
“I played four matches here and I didn’t expect anything coming into this tournament,” Djokovic said.
Sharapova appeared worn out toward the end of her nearly two-and-a-half-hour match against Halep, having been on court more than seven hours longer than her opponent this week.
The fourth-ranked Svitolina produced only 18 winners to Kontaveit’s 24, but also committed fewer unforced errors in a match that lasted 74 minutes.
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