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Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to advance to the semifials in Monte Carlo where he will play Novak Djokovic.
Nadal leads their head-to-head 23-19 and defeated the Serb in the 2009 and 2012 finals in Monte-Carlo before Djokovic exacted revenge in the 2013 title match.
The Spaniard relinquished one of his breaks when leading 5-2 in the first set, but closed out the opener and looked to have control of the match when he went up an early double break 3-0 lead in the second set.
But Ferrer was going to make Nadal work for his victory. The Valencia native recouped one of the breaks in the fourth game, and then thwarted Nadal when he served for the match at 5-4, reeling off three straight games to stun the Mallorcan and level the match.
But Nadal responded with a break at the start of the third set and this time made no mistake. He cushioned his lead with a second break in the seventh game before sealing victory over Ferrer for the 23rd time in 29 meetings. Third seed Nadal improved to a 327-25 record on clay courts.
Djokovic defeated Marin Cilic 6-0, 6-3.
"The first set went completely my way," said Djokovic. "I knew he was going to start to change some things in his game so he could start to play a little bit better. But I made a crucial break at the beginning of the second. The first eight games were really fantastic. I tried to keep it up, [but] I did drop in the concentration a little bit."
“It's probably the biggest clay court challenge you can have, playing against Nadal or Ferrer. Both of these guys have had so much success on this surface, especially Rafa, this tournament in particular.
"I [have] got to prepare myself mentally for that. Other than the mental part, I think physically I'm ready. I'm not exhausted. I haven't spent too much time on the court. Also, I'm feeling the ball really well. Hopefully, I can perform well. I know that I'm going to need to keep the high level of performance throughout the entire match tomorrow."
Phhoto Source: Julian Finney/Getty Images Europe
