Spanish Rafael Nadal Advances to the Final of the Monte Carlo Masters

Rafael Nadal, the world number one and top seed, qualified for the final of the Monte Carlo Masters by defeating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 and 6-1 in 1 hour and 29 minutes.

This will be the eleventh final for the Spanish champion in his twelve participations. In 2015, he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, being the only player who can boast of having beaten Nadal in this tournament.

Nadal began by asserting his dominance with a 3-0 lead, which did not reflect the equality of the initial games, where the Spaniard clearly imposed his serve.

However, Grigor Dimitrov quickly returned the favor by breaking Nadal's serve in the fifth game and equalizing the match (3-3) in the next.

The Spanish champion solidly dominated his serves, while the Bulgarian struggled and had to overcome a break point in the sixth game and two in the eighth, although he kept the score level until the end.

With 5-4 and Dimitrov serving, the ten-time Monte Carlo champion aimed to quickly secure the set. With a score of 15-40, just after an hour of play, he missed the first set point but not the second, winning 6-4.

Nadal once again served first in the second set and repeated his dominance with 1-0, 2-0 (with the Bulgarian serving a blank game), and 3-0.

Dimitrov's frustration and despair grew as he saw all his attempts to stop Nadal go in vain. The fourth game also went to the Spanish player, again on the Bulgarian's serve.

Third time was the charm for Dimitrov, as he finally got on the board in the second set on his third service game, although with poor results due to shoulder complaints and lack of accuracy in his shots.

Nadal closed out the semifinal in style, with a love game, to reach his eleventh final. He has won the other ten. The winner of the match between German Alexander Zverev, the third seed, and Japanese Kei Nishikori will be his opponent.