AP
May 7, 2024
ROME (AP) - Teenager Rafael Nadal advanced to his third straight final with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over unseeded David Ferrer at the Rome Masters on Saturday.
Playing in Rome for the first time, Nadal of Spain extended his winning streak to 16 matches following his titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
In a rematch of the Monte Carlo final, Nadal will meet French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria of Argentina for the title Sunday. Coria beat Andre Agassi 7-5, 7-6 (0) and improved to 13-2 on clay this season.
Nadal is a tour-best 30-2 on clay this year.
Agassi was on the verge of evening the match with Coria when he served for the second set at 5-3. On the second point of the game, however, Agassi overruled a line judge and Coria replayed the point. Agassi went on to lose the point, and the game.
Agassi had previously not lost a set this week.
Both Nadal and Ferrer struggled to hold serve in the second and third sets, and Nadal could not convert his first two match points while serving at 5-4 in the third set.
On his first match point, Ferrer hit a forehand winner. On the second, Nadal missed a backhand wide after a long baseline rally.
Two games later, Nadal hit a two-handed backhand passing shot to set up his third match point, prompting him to run halfway across the court and launch himself into a leaping fist-pump.
When Ferrer's forehand sailed on the next point, Nadal dropped to his knees and raised his arms to celebrate victory over the Spaniard after two hours 29 minutes.
"He played better tennis the first two sets," Nadal said. "In the third set, I played better. I'm happy because I finished the match with my best level of the match. I fought for every ball."
Nadal, who is left-handed, played with a cut on his left index finger. On a changeover midway through the second set, a trainer came out to re-tape the injury.
"It's nothing," Nadal said, holding up the black and blue finger.
Nadal started well, breaking in the first game of the match. He had three points for a 5-3 lead when Ferrer broke back to even the set at 4-4. Ferrer broke again to win the first set when Nadal hit a forehand long.
Ferrer was appearing in his second Masters Series semifinal this season after also losing to Nadal in Miami.
On Sunday, Nadal will attempt to become the third-straight Spanish winner in Rome after Felix Mantilla took the title in 2003 and Carlos Moya captured the trophy last year in this $2.7 million US clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which begins May 23.
Nadal, who turns 19 next month, is also seeking to become the youngest winner in Rome since Jimmy Arias took the title when he was 18 years, nine months in 1983.
Bjorn Borg holds the record for youngest champion in Rome, taking the title when he was 17 in 1974, shortly before he won his first French Open.
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