ROME: After losing in the semi-finals 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.

In the final, Nadal will resume his rivalry with top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who faced an unusually high number of drop shots from Diego Schwartzman before winning 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3.

The Serbian triumphed in last week’s Madrid Open and has a chance to win back-to-back clay-court titles after overcoming the spirited Schwartzman in two hours 31 minutes.

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.

Czech fourth seed Karolina Pliskova beat Greek qualifier Maria Sakkari in the other semi-final, 6-4, 6-4.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2019