Nadal beats Ginepri to reach Madrid Masters Final

MADRID (Spain)—Top-seeded Rafael Nadal reached his first Madrid Masters final, edging Robby Ginepri 7-5, 7-6 (1) on Saturday.
The 19-year-old Spaniard, playing in Madrid for the third time, was pressed hard by Ginepri in both sets before a sellout crowd of 9,000 at Rockodromo Madrid Arena.
In the second set, Nadal went ahead 4-3 with a service break after the American fell behind 0-40. But Ginepri broke back in the next game when Nadal missed a rare forehand passing shot.
Both players held serve the rest of the way, forcing the tiebreaker. Nadal got an early mini-break and never trailed, clinching it after a 6-1 lead when Ginepri’s forehand sailed long.
Chasing his 11th ATP Tour title, Nadal will meet either David Nalbandian or Ivan Ljubicic in Sunday’s final.
After trading breaks in the seventh and eighth games of the first set, Nadal broke again for 6-5 on his third break point when Ginepri’s backhand sailed wide.
Nadal fell behind 0-30 in the next game, but the left-hander then won four straight points. Nadal, who has not lost a set in four matches, closed it out with a forehand winner into the corner.
Ginepri had eight aces and Nadal had none in the opening set, but the American committed more than twice as many unforced errors (19-6). Ginepri finished with 35 unforced errors, while Nadal had 19.
A US Open semifinalist, Ginepri has an outside chance of qualifying for the season-ending Masters Cup next month in Shanghai, China. Four spots are left in the eight-man field and Ginepri is 15th in the Champions Race after reaching the semifinals.
Nadal has already qualified.—Agencies