MADRID, Oct 22: Rafael Nadal reached his fifth Masters Series final of the year when he overcame fierce resistance from American Robbi Ginepri to win 7-5 7-6 in a high-octane contest on Saturday.

The 19-year-old Spaniard will meet in-form Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in Sunday’s final after Ljubicic extended his winning run to 16 matches with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory over fifth seed David Nalbandian.

Nadal’s victory was his 78th of the year, one more than world number one Roger Federer and the most by a teenager since Mats Wilander won 82 in 1983.

Nadal soon warmed to the task and forced errors from the U.S. Open semifinalist as the two players slugged it out.

The young Mallorcan retrieved a seemingly impossible drop shot and responded with a magnificent winning pass in the opening point of the seventh game and went on to earn himself a break to lead 4-3.

But Ginepri, who won in Indianapolis in July, broke straight back and blasted through another service game to go 5-4 up.

Nadal rose to the challenge and broke again in the 11th after forcing two successive errors from his opponent. He then served out to clinch the set.

In the second, a lapse in concentration by Ginepri allowed Nadal to snatch a break in the seventh game.

Ginepri was not about to fold, though, and he immediately broke back before forcing the set into a tiebreak.

Pumped up by the capacity crowd at the Madrid Arena, Nadal stepped up the pace and took the tiebreak 7-1.—Agencies