Cincinnati Masters: Rafael Nadal on course to claim back to back Masters titles

Rafael Nadal reached his maiden Western & Southern Open final with a 7-5 7-6(4) victory over Tomas Berdych

Rafael Nadal bulldozed past a resistant Tomas Berdych to reach his maiden final at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati with a 7-5 7-6(4) victory in a little more than two hours.

The Czech made every effort to challenge the Spaniard, but his valiant effort was only good enough to stretch Nadal in both sets.

Nadal has reached the 11th final of this year, being just a match away from doing a Montreal-Cincinnati double. In the finals against John Isner on Sunday, Nadal will seek to remain unbeaten on hard-courts this year and take his 53rd match win of an incredulously prolific season.

Nadal is an impressive 15-1 against top 10 opponents this year, his only loss coming to Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Berdych was given a taste of Nadal’s overbearing methods when the Spaniard wiped out three game points, striking a couple of ferocious forehand winners.

It took a couple of deuce points and a pair of errors from Nadal for Berdych to hold his serve to start the proceedings. The next three games though were held to love as the players settled into a steady rhythm on the imposing centre court at 2-2.

Both players continued to hold serve without too much sweat, and it appeared that the first set might only be decided on a tie-breaker. But Nadal had other ideas – the Spaniard saved game point with a sizzling forehand down the line winner at 40-30 in the eleventh game.

Berdych complicated his situation with an error off the forehand before making a serious error of judgment. The Czech decided to rush the net behind a second serve, only to make a meal of a simple backhand volley to gift the vital break to Nadal.

The Spaniard showed how it is done, as he thumped away a forehand volley winner to gain three set points in the next game. Berdych saved two of them but overcooked a backhand on the third point to surrender the first set to Nadal.

The Spaniard had 18 winners in the first set and took 91% of the points behind his first serve to draw first blood over Berdych.

In an uncharacteristic twist, Nadal double faulted at 40-30, 2-3 to allow Berdych a sniff in the second set. The Czech took the break at the second opportunity when the Spaniard sailed a forehand outside the court.

Unfortunately, the 4-2 lead was short lived – Berdych crumbled into the net twice in a row from 30-30 in the next game to get the set back on serve.

The eighth game was possibly the most intense game of the contest – it took 16 points and five deuce points before Nadal averted four break points to deny a probing Berdych what could have been a handy 5-3 lead with an opportunity to serve for the set.

Instead, Nadal pulled out a powerful body serve to hold his own and keep it even at 4-4.

Tomas Berdych returns against Rafael Nadal in the Western & Southern Open semifinal at Cincinnati

Nadal sought to do an encore of the first set, by breaking Berdych in the eleventh game, but Berdych survived the onslaught to take a 6-5 lead.

The Spaniard held to love in the next game to force the tie-break. Berdych lost a point every time he served in the breaker to leave Nadal the luxury of three match points at 6-3.

Nadal sealed the deal at the second time of asking with a service winner to reach back to back finals on a hard-court for only the first time in his career. Nadal won an impressive 75% of his service points and made 38 winners to get away from a battling Berdych. The Spaniard also improved his record over Berdych to 14-3 with this victory.

“It’s a very nice feeling,” said Nadal. “For me, this one is a tournament that I never was able to play very well. I said last week, in Cincinnati I never felt that I was playing well, and this year the situation is different. I am having the right feelings on court. I’m playing aggressive.”

Victory on Sunday should enable Nadal to take the second rank from Andy Murray ahead of the US Open. Berdych will have to take consolation from rising to World No.5 on Monday, the highest ranking of his career.