Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal was eliminated from the Rio Open here, suffering a 6-1, 2-6, 5-7 defeat to Italian Fabio Fognini in the semi-finals.
The 14-time Grand Slam winner looked remarkably fresh early Saturday despite having only 14 hours to recover from his quarter-final victory over Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, reported Xinhua .
The first four games of the second set went against serve before Fognini won the next three games to take the match into a deciding set. Nadal was visibly affected by cramps as both players held serve in the final set.
The 28-year-old Spaniard twice saved match points in the 12th game before the fourth seed secured victory with a backhand cross-court winner.
Nadal was upbeat despite suffering his first semi-final defeat on clay since falling to Carlos Moya in Croatia 12 years ago.
“It was not a negative week. I feel my tennis is close — closer than a month ago — to the level I want to arrive at again. I have to be happy the way I played that first set. I got tired too early but these kinds of things can happen,” said Nadal, who underwent surgery to remove his appendix in November.
Fognini will play David Ferrer in Sunday’s final after the Spaniard overcame Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 7-5, 6-1 in the other semi-final.
“Everybody knows Nadal is the best on this surface. I don’t have words to describe this moment. I am super happy. It’s the best match I have won so far in my career,” Fognini said.
Meanwhile, top seed Sara Errani of Italy will play Slovakia’s Anna Schmiedlova in the women’s final. Errani progressed by defeating Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 7-5, 6-3 and Schmiedlova beat Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
