Madrid: World No.1 Rafael Nadal will face Japan’s Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s Madrid Masters final after he romped past fellow Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday. Tenth seed Nishikori had a much sterner test as he needed 10 match points to finally overcome David Ferrer 7-6, (7-5), 5-7, 6-3 in nearly three hours to record his 14th straight win.
Nadal has now won 12 sets in a row in the Spanish capital as he looks for his first title of the European clay court season after suffering shock defeats in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open. Nadal has said consistently throughout the week that his game has been improving slowly on the clay from a poor start in Monte Carlo “I’m playing my logical game again that I’ve always done on clay. I think I’m playing well with my forehand and defending very well”.
After breaking the Bautista Agut serve in the opening game, Nadal was pegged back after a sloppy service game of his own to allow the world number 45 to level at 3-3. However, the three-time champion in Madrid suddenly upped his intensity to take the next seven games to close out the first set and move a double break up in the second. Nadal, did the same in the final two games to round off victory in an hour and 43 minutes.
Nishikori has already secured his place as the first Japanese man to make the top 10 when the latest rankings are released next week and continued his rapid rise with a gutsy performance against the world number five. However, just like in his quarter-final win over Feliciano Lopez, Nishikori needed extensive treatment on a back injury that could hamper his chances against Nadal. “I don’t know how I’ll feel tomorrow, I’ll have to see how I wake up," he said. Nishikori has never beaten Nadal in six meetings, but the 24-year-old believes he can take inspiration from his narrow three-set defeat at the Australian Open.
