Six sets won, six games lost for Rafael Nadal in Rome

The King Of Clay is catching fire at just the right time.

On Friday, Rafael Nadal eased past countryman Fernando Verdasco, 6-4, 6-0, in the Rome quarterfinals to set a highly-anticipated rematch with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Just last week, Tsitsipas ousted Nadal in the Spaniard’s home country to reach the Madrid final.

In six sets played this week at the Foro Italico, Nadal has put on a ruthless display, dropping just six games. He is bidding to lift his ninth Rome trophy and first of the 2019 European clay season, following three successive semifinal exits in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. The seventh-ranked Tsitsipas, winner of an ATP-leading 29 matches in 2019, received a walkover into the semifinals after Roger Federer withdrew with a leg injury.

"Every year, we make a prediction with the team [on] which player is going to be [in] the Top 10 at the end of the season before the season starts. I put Tsitsipas there," Nadal revealed in his post-match press conference. "I don't say that because I am a genius. I say that is because he was a clear candidate to be where he is. He started even better than what I expected. Here we are. He deserves to be where he is now. That's it."

Against Verdasco, Nadal was a point away from going down a double break to begin the quarterfinal with the fellow left-hander. Verdasco missed that opportunity and despite losing his break advantage, hit three consecutive winners for a chance to regain it with Nadal serving at 4-4. Nadal erased the deficit and from there, the terms of the match were squarely on his racquet.

“I was not playing bad at the beginning at all. But he was playing unbelievable. No mistakes, a lot of winners, taking the ball early,” assessed Nadal. “It was a very difficult first set. Was one of the first sets that I am more happy with.”

Thursday's double-duty load was a considerable factor, with Verdasco expending nearly five hours compared to Nadal's two hours and nine minutes.