On paper the first ATP Rome semi-final would have appeared to have been a foregone conclusion. Three surprising hours later we had the result most people would have expected but it was a heck of a journey to get there.
To the surprise of many, Raonic won the first set on a tiebreaker 7-6(5), playing some very good clay court tennis, crushing forehand after forehand and often leaving the perplexed Serb looking at the dirt in disbelief. In the second set Novak raised his level significantly, breaking to lead 3-1. The plucky Canadian was not off his stride for long and continued his good play to break back immediately.
We had another tiebreaker in the second set with the Serbian number one coming out on top, despite being a mini-break down at one point. Djokovic proved too much for Raonic to handle in the deciding set, playing some top level tennis to break and consolidate for 2-0. Raonic had three separate chances to break back but it wasn't to be for the Canadian as Djokovic broke him once again at 5-3 to take the set and the match. Raonic has a lot to be proud of this week at the Foro Italico, beating both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jeremy Chardy to reach his first clay Masters 1000 semi-final.
No prizes for guessing who Djokovic will play in the final tomorrow as clay superstar Rafael Nadal took on newly turned 23 year old Bulgarian, Grigor Dimitrov, in the second of the semi-finals. From the start Grigor was no match for Nadal with the Spaniard punishing Dimitrov, doing what he does best; playing sublime clay court tennis and hitting some wonderful shots to take the first set 6-2 in just 33 minutes. Nadal continued where he left off in the second set, breaking immediately and he was soon a double break up. Dimitrov had an inspired few minutes in the final game of the set, hitting some lovely forehands of his own. Alas it was too little, too late as the Spaniard was calm and collected and served the match out, winning 6-2 6-2 in 1 hour and 22 minutes.
The final tomorrow will be the 41st meeting between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The Spaniard leads the head to head 22-18. Rome is the last tournament before Roland Garros and it terms of confidence it certainly matters. Will the King Of Clay add Rome 2014 to his haul and send out a message before the French Open? Will the Serb spoil the party and give the Spaniard something to think about before they head to Paris?
The men's final is at 3pm BST/4pm local tomorrow afternoon.
Results:
Novak Djokovic d Milos Raonic 6-7(5) 7-6(4) 6-3
Rafael Nadal d Grigor Dimitrov 6-2 6-2