Nadal eases past Berdych into final

Rafael Nadal celebrates his victory over Tomas Berdych during the men’s semifinal in the Madrid Open at the Caja Magica (Magic Box) sports complex in Madrid yesterday.

DPA/MadridRafael Nadal put his grinding clay-court tennis on full display yesterday, carving out a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 defeat of Tomas Berdych to reach a seventh career final at the Madrid Masters. The third seed, who owns four title at the home event, will play for the trophy on Sunday against either Munich champion and second seed Andy Murray or find himself in a repeat of last year’s final facing Japan’s Kei Nishikori. Nadal won the 2014 honours when Nishikori quit injured in the third set. The win marked Nadal’s 19th from 23 played against Czech Berdych, who had lost 17 straight to Spain’s king of clay prior to shocking Nadal in January’s Australian Open quarter-finals. Nadal is now one win away from his first clay title of the European spring, with only Rome next week still remaining prior to the May 24 start of the French Open. “It’s a long time since I’ve been playing at this level. It’s an important victory for me,” said the winner, “I’ve been playing better and better the last few days. “I’m happy to be in the final, and i had an unbelievable crowd with me today. “I’m playing again at a very good level, let’s see tomorrow if I can keep it up.” Nadal has been putting in hours on the practise courts trying to overcome last year’s run of injury and illness and a lethargic set of performances for much of 2015. Since winning a record ninth French Open title 11 months ago, the 28-year-old has lifted just one minor South American clay title as he win in Buenos Aires in February. Nadal improved to 38-8 in Madrid and 23-7 on the season; he stand 15-3 on the clay in 2015. The Spaniard and the Czech duelled for 61 minutes in the opening set, with Nadal patiently taking the early lead with a 5-2 margin in the tiebreaker. The third seed put a forehand winner deep into the corner and converted on the next point to earn the set. Nadal knocked on the door early in the second set, breaking Berdych for 3-1 and securing a 5-1 margin on his fourth break point of that game. One game later, the Spaniard moved into the final as Berdych sailed a return long over the baseline after nearly an hour and three-quarters. Nadal forced the Czech to save seven of nine break points while never facing one himself. Nadal will bid for his 47th career title on clay, standing three short of the all-time record of 49 held by Guillermo Vilas.