Retuers.co.uk
by James Eve
May 7, 2024
ROME, May 7 (Reuters) - Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal reached his sixth final of the year when he edged out compatriot David Ferrer 4-6 6-4 7-5 at the Rome Masters on Saturday.
Nadal next faces either ninth seed Guillermo Coria or Andre Agassi, who is trying to reclaim the title he won in 2002.
"I felt a little bit tired today, both mentally and physically but I fought for every ball," said Nadal, who also had to come from a set down to beat Radek Stepanek in the quarter-finals.
"There was no difference between us. I was just pleased because I finished the match with my best play of the day."
Asked who he would like to play in Sunday's final, he replied: "I want to play Agassi before he retires. He's one of the best players in history and I've never played him before."
The 18-year-old Nadal, who became the youngest semi-finalist at the claycourt event since Sergi Bruguera in 1989, quashed Ferrer's challenge to extend his winning streak to 16 matches.
Having already won four titles on clay this year, including last month's Monte Carlo Masters, Nadal started in business-like fashion and lashed groundstrokes past his bewildered opponent to break in the opening game.
As the match continued, however, Ferrer began to time his shots better and forced the fifth seed into forehand errors that caused him to drop serve in the eighth and 10th games and lose the first set.
Ferrer twice battled back from a break down in the second, but a long forehand in the ninth game gave Nadal the break he needed to take the contest into a decider.
Nadal rallied to break in the fifth game before Ferrer scrapped for every point and saved two match points to level the scores at 5-5.
He relief was short-lived. A pair of backhand errors, a double fault and a wild smash by Ferrer put Nadal back in front and the teenager served out to win.
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