Rampant Nadal reaches eighth Barcelona final

BARCELONA, SPAIN – APRIL 27: Rafael Nadal celebrates after winning his semi-final match against Milos Raonic of Canada during day six of the 2013 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell

The rains festered for far longer than their opponents in the semi-finals. The brutally dominant Rafael Nadal and an equally impressive Nicolas Almagro swiped past their hapless opponents like they were unwelcome visitors to their own dwelling. Yet again, Nadal made a slow start before recovering to annihilate the completely outmatched Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-0 to reach his eighth final in nine years at the Barcelona Open BancSabadell. Almagro joined his compatriot in the final with 6-2, 6-1 thumping of Philipp Kohlschreiber in just 51 minutes to reach the finals in Barcelona for the first time in his career.

Nadal was broken to love in the second game, but Raonic courted trouble when he fell to 15-40 in the next game. A couple of volleys bailed Raonic back to deuce, but the Canadian botched a third attempt at the net to offer Nadal a third break point. This time, Nadal decided to foray to the net and recover the break with a feathery touch that dropped dead on the other side.

Nadal nullified a double fault in the sixth game with a thundering ace to hold serve at 3-3, just before Raonic’s backhand decided to take leave of him. The Canadian made three unforced errors off his backhand in the next game to suffer a second break. Raonic forced Nadal to deuce in the eighth game, but a forehand cross-court winner helped the Spaniard to a 5-3 lead.

Raonic forced Nadal to serve out the set, but the world No. 5 had no trouble wrapping up the set with another delectable forehand drop shot at the net. It took Nadal 41 minutes to remind Raonic of his limitations on the slow surface, running him ragged around the court and attacking the second serve with painful regularity.

Raonic slipped to 15-40 at the start of the second set, when he dumped a cross-court backhand in the net. For once, the backhand worked for Raonic – a volley winner followed by an angled cross-court enabled the Canadian claw back to deuce, but a forehand settled in the net to cost Raonic the break. It was all Nadal from there as the Spaniard went on to take seven games in a row to take his appointed place in the finals with a fourth straight career victory over Raonic.

“I think it was my best match of the whole week,” said Nadal. “He played a fantastic second game on the return. I won the third game, which was very important for the match, because if you are 3-love down against a big server like Milos, you’re in big trouble.”

In the other semi-final, Nicolas Almagro, playing on the adjacent Pista One at the Real Club de Tenis, had a fluent outing too. The 12^th ranked man from Murcia reached his second ATP Tour final of the year, with a couple of breaks in each set to reach the final for the first time in 10 appearances at Barcelona.

Spanish player Nicolas Almagro celebrates his victory against German player Philipp Kohlschreiber during the Barcelona Open tennis tournament Conde de Godo in Barcelona on April 27, 2013. Almagro won 2-6, 1-6.

Almagro did not offer a single break point and converted four of seven opportunities to dismiss the 8^th seeded German. The Spaniard, who lost in Houston at the hands of John Isner, will need a first victory in ten meetings over Nadal to clinch his 13^th career title. All of Almagro’s success has come on clay. “I think I played one of my best matches here in Spain,” said an even more pleased Almagro. “I felt really good all the time during the match. I’m really happy to be in my first final in Barcelona”

But his opponent in the final is in the middle of a wonderfully rewarding comeback from a seven-month injury layoff. Nadal came back in February at Vina del Mar where he lost to Horacio Zeballos, but then won titles in Sao Paulo, Acapulco and Indian Wells before losing to Novak Djokovic in the title match at Monte Carlo last week. Nadal will be bidding for his 39^th title on clay and a 54^th career triumph on Sunday.