RAIN delays set up an enticing eighth day of action at the Rome Masters, as two players played back-to back-matches on a huge day on clay. Whilst Stefanos Tsitsipas held the upper hand prior to the delays, it was not to be done as Novak Djokovic made great use of the delay to build his form once more. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Sonego almost completed a dream run on home turf, making the semi-finals before he was stopped in his tracks by the Serbian in three sets.

The quarters saw two hard-fought contests, as Djokovic and Tsitsipas continued their matchup from the day prior with the Greek not going home quietly in a 4-6 7-5 7-5 encounter, which went the whole hog for three hours and 16 minutes. Meanwhile Sonego was tested early by seventh seed Russian Andrey Rublev before running out 3-6 6-4 6-3 victor in two hours and 33 minutes.

“There are many things to say about today or yesterday’s match. It kind of felt like we played two matches… The one yesterday, where he was the better player. He started better today also. I managed to somehow to hold my nerves [and] break his serve in the important moments in the second and third sets,” Djokovic said post-match.

Djokovic backed up well, but it was safe to say that Italian Sonego also backed up fairly well too, challenging the world number one to the bitter end.

“[This is] my favorite tournament in the world, I’m with my people here,” Sonego said. “[I am] so happy for this because I played every point. I’m really happy.”

“It’s a very emotional moment for me, playing in [the] semi-finals with Novak,” Sonego said. “He’s [an] unbelievable player. He’s the best in the world. I want to do my best.”

But despite holding match points in the second set, Djokovic was unable to clinch an easy win against the Italian – who came in hunting and in the unprecedented position of leading their head to head 1-0. It was not to be done though, as Djokovic fired in the third to fly into the Rome final, 6-3 6-7 6-2.

“I have only myself to blame for not closing the match in two sets,” Djokovic said. “At the end of the day, he is showing why he reached his first [ATP Masters 1000] semi-finals. He’s a quality player. [It is] not easy to play against him. Obviously he had the crowd behind him. It was an electric atmosphere out there on the court.”

Djokovic’s two straight victories on the day set up an enticing final against clay champion Rafael Nadal, following the Spaniard’s 6-4 6-4 sweep of Reilly Opelka.

“I did the thing that I had to do today,” Nadal said post-match. “It is not an easy, beautiful match to play and, [against] a player like Reilly, [you aren’t going to] have rhythm. You know you are going to have just a few options on your return and you know he can play very aggressive from the baseline. That is what happened at the beginning of the match. He had some options [for the] break and it was super important for me to save those moments.”

“I don’t have much time [to recover], I played a lot of tennis,” Djokovic said. “Hopefully I’ll have fresh legs, because that’s what I definitely will need. “It’s necessary in order to have a chance against Rafa.”

INTERNAZIONALI BNL D’ITALIA QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated [5] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 4-6 7-5 7-5
Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) defeated [7] Andrey Rublev (RUS) 3-6 6-4 6-3

INTERNAZIONALI BNL D’ITALIA SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) defeated Reilly Opelka (USA) 6-4 6-4
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) 6-3 6-7 6-2

Picture credit: ABACA/PA Images