Nadal and Djokovic set up final clash

12 April 2012

Top seed Rafael Nadal will meet Novak Djokovic in the final of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters after the pair came through their respective last-four clashes on Saturday.

Nadal beat world number four Andy Murray 6-2 7-6 (7/4) while Serbian Djokovic came back from one set down to beat Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6 6-1 6-3.

Nadal has now won 26 successive games in Monaco and is aiming for his fifth straight title although he was pushed in the second set by Scot Murray who was in his first semi-final on clay.

A 6-2 scoreline was reflective of the Spaniard's domination, and Murray's first-serve percentage of less than 50% in the opening set was woefully inadequate in such exalted company.

Nadal lost some of his previous supremacy in the second but Murray, as with so many before him, was unable to shake off the unrelenting 22-year-old who took the opening break of the set to move 3-1 ahead.

Nadal stood firm and then reached a first match point, which an increasingly inspired Murray staved off with an ice-cool drop shot. Remarkably, the Scot managed to get back on serve by breaking and held to level at 5-5, before two electric games later the tie-break was required.

Djokovic started in positive fashion against Roger Federer's conqueror but was unable to convert one break point in the second game and a further three break points two games later.

Wawrinka dug deep at the start of the pair's ninth meeting, riding his luck to reach 4-4 before Djokovic gifted him a double fault and a chance to serve for the first set at 5-4.

However, 21-year-old Djokovic dropped just 15 points in a 6-1 second set that lasted 35 minutes. In the decider, Djokovic made successive groundstroke errors in the second game to give Wawrinka a 2-0 lead.

Djokovic responded by rattling off four successive games for a 4-2 advantage and although Wawrinka fought back from 15-40 at 3-5, Djokovic was not to be denied on his third match point.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in