Rafael Nadal beats Tsitsipas to reach Italian Open final 2019.
After losing in the semifinals of three straight clay-court tournaments, Rafael Nadal looked more like his old, dominant self when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Italian Open final on Saturday.
It was a measure of revenge for Nadal after losing to Tsitsipas in three sets at this stage in Madrid last week. This victory should also restore Nadal’s confidence as he seeks a record-extending 12th title at the French Open starting next weekend.
Aiming for a ninth trophy in Rome, Nadal’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be Novak Djokovic or Diego Schwartzman, who were playing later.
Nadal is in the middle of his longest title drought to begin a season since he came onto the scene in 2004. His last trophy came last August in Toronto.
Nadal broke Tsitsipas’ serve early in both sets.
“The shots that I played today, I played similar shots last week,” Tsitsipas said.
“Today those shots felt really slow and he had plenty of time to pass me when I was approaching to the net. .. The court speed was the difference.”
In the women’s tournament, Johanna Konta rallied past sixth-seeded Kiki Bertens 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in nearly three hours to reach the biggest clay-court final of her career.
Konta’s only previous final on clay came recently in Rabat, Morocco, where she lost to Maria Sakkari.
Konta could get a rematch with Sakkari if the Greek qualifier beats fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the other semifinal.
The 42nd-ranked Konta served for the first set at 5-4 but was broken at love. But Bertens double-faulted to let Konta serve for the second set and Konta got an early break in the third.
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