• Nadal outclasses Tomas Berdych in 67 minutes • Federer gets past challenge of Benoît Paire
Rafael Nadal, on a comeback that would be the envy of Lazarus, defends his Rome Masters title for the sixth time at the Foro Italico on Sunday, in his first final across the net from Roger Federer in nearly two years.
The last was at Roland Garros when the Spaniard won his fifth French Open, an event that tennis had long taken for granted. Much has happened to both of them since – Nadal’s seven-month absence through injury the most significant – but much remains the same, and the most fabled rivalry in the modern game is reignited after two predictably contrasting semi-finals.
Federer ensured the conclusion to this tournament would not end in an anti-climax when he negotiated an artful challenge by the Frenchman Benoît Paire under still skies on Saturday night, winning handsomely in the end after some anxious moments, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 in just under an hour-and-a-half.
The Swiss, 32 in August, was as elegant as ever, his ground strokes hitting the sweet spot with pleasing regularity as Paire, almost a mirror image of insouciance but ultimately doomed, could not match him after a tight first set.
What a return Nadal has made since a seven-month lay-off that looks to have not only saved his career but revived his game to near its best. He beat Federer in the quarter-finals in Indian Wells on this golden 2013 run and in 67 minutes of high-quality tennis on Campo Centrale on Saturday afternoon, after rain gave way to brilliant sunshine, he beat Tomas Berdych in just about every department to post his 35th win in 37 matches this year. On Sunday he reaches for his sixth title of 2013.
Nobody would have predicted that – not even his uncle Toni – when Nadal slipped away from Wimbledon last year on wrecked knees after the humiliation of losing to 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol. But, through a mixture of courage and desperation, he took the hard choice then of withdrawing from the Tour to give his failing body a final chance to recover after years of strain.
Of the two victories, his was marginally the more impressive, as he hit another peak of excellence, winning 6-2, 6-4. The difference between them was that Nadal returned the vaunted serve of Berdych better than the Czech managed his replies. Berdych did not win a single point on Nadal’s second serve, although he put five aces past him.
“He’s an even better player than when I last played him, five years ago,” Berdych said. The Czech has now lost to him 13 times in a row. “I had one chance today, maybe, and didn’t take it.”
Nadal was impressed too. “I did almost everything right, no mistakes, change of direction, good percentages. I’m very happy with the way I played. It was one of my best matches since I came back.”
When asked about appearing in his eighth final in a row, unprecedented even in his own illustrious career, Nadal said: “They’re only numbers. The only thing it means is that you are at the level, playing well, not up and down.
“I am focused and happy about what I am doing. After what’s happened in the last year, every match means a lot to me. Eight finals in a row is more than a dream for me. Four months ago, it was impossible to think like this. I will be very happy to win the final, but any result will be fantastic. Very difficult to improve on.”
And as for his climb to the top in the 12-month race to the ATP World Tour Finals, he was equally self-effacing. “Seven months with zero points? For me it is a miracle to be No 5 in the world.”
It should be a final to savour, but the energy — and his treasured clay, of course — will be with Nadal.
