Rafael Nadal advanced to the finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the sixth time in his career, surviving a close first set to beat Richard Gasquet, 7-5 6-1.
Gasquet learned first-hand exactly why it is so difficult to beat Nadal on his favorite surface; he equaled, and even exceeded, the Spaniard’s level of play throughout the first set. But Nadal would not yield the crucial points. Gasquet earned the first three break points of the set, first at 2-1 when Nadal played a perfectly disguised drop shot from the service line to deny the Frenchman, and later the Spaniard saved two more with powerful serves Gasquet could not return.
Gasquet was playing with new-found confidence throughout the week. He came back from a set down to beat top ten players on consecutive days on the Roman clay, taking out Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych. The Frenchman played the first set like he believed he could make it three in a row, but Nadal pounced on his first opportunity of the match, ripping a backhand return of serve past Gasquet as he came to net. Nadal saved the fourth break point against him in the final game of the set.
Sensing the slightest crack in his opponent’s spirit, Nadal took his game to another level in the second set, breaking in the opening game and again in the fifth game to take firm control of a match that was much closer than the score indicated. The top-ranked player in the world, who fired 26 winner to only 12 unforced errors, closed the match by winning 16 of the last 21 points to improve his career record against Gasquet to 9-0.
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