Defending champion and world number one Rafael Nadal will play second-seed Novak Djokovic in the final of the Rome Masters at the Foro Italico on Sunday.
Nadal overcame the windy conditions, which troubled him in the early phase of the tournament, and displayed a dominating performance in the semifinal. The King of Clay overpowered Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets and forced him to a number of mistakes, by troubling him on the baseline.
Nadal, who is chasing his eighth title in Rome, stressed that Djokovic has an array of shots in his arsenal and he has to step up his game to defeat the Serb in the final.
"Djokovic always plays unbelievable, he's a complete player and has all the shots," Nadal said. "If I want to have chances to win I have to play my best tennis, be aggressive. It will be a very tough match. That's the only way. I have to be ready for the competition."
Djokovic, on the other hand, registered a contrasting victory over Canadian Milos Raonic, who matched the second-seed shot-by-shot in the entire match.
However, the Serb played with a lot more fluency and pace in the later part of the match against Raonic, who clearly surprised the world number two with his agility. Djokovic, after losing the first set, survived a tiebreaker in the second to finally wrap up the match in the decider.
But the four-time Australian Open winner feels a hard-fought win in the semi will only help him against Nadal in the final.
"It was a big win," said Djokovic. "Because it gives me a lot of strength and belief that I hope I can carry into tomorrow's final and the rest of the season. He played at a high level, especially on his serve, and I cannot recall the last time when I felt so helpless in the return games. I couldn't really read his serve."
Where to Watch Live:
Rafael Nadal v Novak Djokovic starts at 7:30 pm IST, 2:00 pm GMT.
The live coverage will be on Ten Action in India. Global online viewers can live stream the live action HERE, HERE or HERE. ESPN will have live coverage for the US and Australia but to watch the action live online, click HERE or HERE.
