Rafa Nadal to face Fabio Fognini in Hamburg Open final

Nadal, a 14-times grand slam champion, has endured a hard year, surrendering his French Open title, suffering a shock defeat by journeyman Dustin Brown at Wimbledon and dropping to number 10 in the rankings.

Clay expert Nadal will be looking for his 47th win on the surface at the Hamburg Open final this Sunday.

“I will try to keep playing well and enjoy today’s victory”, the Spaniard told the ATP’s official website. “These are important points for me – 300 points for my goal of qualifying for the World Tour Finals is important”.

Nadal called for the trainer in the third game of the second set and received treatment on his right pectoral muscle, but after some stretching and taking a pill he resumed play and dominated the action as convincingly as before. In general it was a very positive match.

Nadal was broken twice in a match that lasted one hour and 20 minutes yet Seppi was still overwhelmed by his opponent’s formidable hitting from the back of the court as he showed glimpses of the form that has carried him to nine French Open titles.

“Every victory is important”.

“Something that I am proud of today, very happy with, is my attitude and I’m very happy with the way that I played”.

The top-seeded Mallorcan, playing the summer clay-court tournament for the first time in seven years, goes on to face fifth-seeded Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, who battled past Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

The final will be the seventh match between the two players, having first faced each other in 2013.

Jamie Murray and John Peers will face the Colombian power Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the doubles final.