ROME: After losing in the semifinals of three straight clay-court tournaments, Rafael Nadal looked more like his old, dominant self when he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Italian Open final on Saturday.
It was a measure of revenge for Nadal after losing to Tsitsipas in three sets at this stage in Madrid last week. This victory should also restore Nadal’s confidence as he seeks a record-extending 12th title at the French Open starting next weekend.
“The main thing is I am playing better. If I play better, I know I’m going to have chances to be in finals and to win semifinal matches,” Nadal said. “If you are not playing well, (beating) the best players of the world is much more difficult. ... I have margin to keep improving. But I am doing the right steps to be there.”
Aiming for a ninth trophy in Rome, Nadal’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be Novak Djokovic or Diego Schwartzman, who were playing later.
Nadal is in the middle of his longest title drought to begin a season since he came onto the scene in 2004. His last trophy came last August in Toronto.
The crowd attempted to encourage Tsitsipas with chants of “Tsi-Tsi-Tsi, Pas-Pas-Pas” but the 20-year-old Greek player couldn’t keep up with Nadal on the long rallies — even though he didn’t play a day earlier after Roger Federer withdrew injured from their quarterfinal.
Conditions were much slower than on the high-altitude court in Madrid, which favored Nadal and made it tougher for Tsitsipas to execute his attacking game.
“The shots that I played today, I played similar shots last week,” Tsitsipas said. “Today those shots felt really slow and he had plenty of time to pass me when I was approaching to the net. .. The court speed was the difference.”
Midway through the first set, Nadal produced a blistering forehand winner up the line on the run, drawing a loud roar from the packed Campo Centrale crowd.
Nadal broke Tsitsipas’ serve early in both sets.
In the women’s tournament, Johanna Konta rallied past sixth-seeded Kiki Bertens 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in nearly three hours to reach the biggest clay-court final of her career.
Konta’s only previous final on clay came recently in Rabat, Morocco, where she lost to Maria Sakkari.
Konta could get a rematch with Sakkari if the Greek qualifier beats fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the other semifinal.
“I’ve never really doubted my ability on the surface,” Konta said. “I won a lot of my first junior titles, first professional titles on clay. I’ve always felt that I have a game that has the ability to do well on this surface.”
Midway through the first set, Konta surprised Bertens with a drop shot winner during a baseline rally, causing Bertens to fall on her stomach to the clay as she rapidly changed directions. Then in the next game, Konta ran down a drop shot and produced an angled winner.
Bertens was coming off the Madrid Open title.
“She played really smart with the drop shots,” Bertens said. “I was all the time getting myself together and trying to push for more energy. But it was not there.”
The 42nd-ranked Konta served for the first set at 5-4 but was broken at love. But Bertens double-faulted to let Konta serve for the second set and Konta got an early break in the third.
Rafael Nadal gets his revenge over Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach Rome final
Rafael Nadal gets his revenge over Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach Rome final
- Aiming for a ninth trophy in Rome, Nadal’s opponent in Sunday’s final will be Novak Djokovic or Diego Schwartzman
- Nadal is in the middle of his longest title drought to begin a season since he came onto the scene in 2004
The danger is real for Tottenham as specter of Premier League relegation looms
What’s been increasingly apparent to despairing Tottenham fans for some months is now suddenly clear for everyone: their team could genuinely be relegated from the Premier League.
Spurs have been regarded for some time as part of England’s so-called “Big Six” — so much so that they were involved in the quickly aborted Super League project in 2021 — but they aren’t playing like it, at least in the Premier League.
Last season, Tottenham finished in 17th place, one spot above the bottom three, but was never in realistic danger of relegation.
This season, the danger is real. Tottenham is in 16th place but just four points above the relegation zone with 11 rounds remaining and is the only team in the league without a win in 2026 heading into a match at Fulham on Sunday.
The only victories this calendar year have come in the Champions League, which Tottenham finished in the top eight after the first stage to advance directly to the round of 16.
Spurs — the Europa League winners last season — haven’t been able to reproduce their European exploits in the Premier League, with their shortcomings exposed in a 4-1 thrashing by fierce rival Arsenal last weekend. That was Igor Tudor ‘s first match in charge of Tottenham and it laid bare the scale of the task facing the Croatian, who replaced Thomas Frank at the helm.
Tudor has a long injury list to deal with — among the top players on it are James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Bergvall and Pedro Porro — as well as confidence issues within the squad. Do they have the stomach for a relegation battle?
Also going against Tottenham is the fact that third-to-last West Ham is showing more resilience in recent weeks, losing just one of its eight games in all competitions.
It doesn’t help, either, that while Spurs are at a low ebb, Arsenal is currently the top team in England.
Tottenham has been an ever-present in the Premier League since the competition was founded in 1992, and last played in the second tier in the 1977-78 season.
Key matchups
The title race resumes with first-place Arsenal at home to Chelsea. They recently met over two legs in the English League Cup semifinals and Arsenal won both games.
Manchester City is five points behind in second place, though has a game in hand, and is away to Leeds. That sees City striker Erling Haaland return to the city where he was born.
Players to watch
Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko will be looking to score in a third straight game when Crystal Palace visits Old Trafford. Sesko scored an equalizer against West Ham and then a winner at Everton, both times off the bench.
Out of action
Liverpool manager Arne Slot will hope for positive news about Germany playmaker Florian Wirtz, who missed the win at Nottingham Forest last weekend because of back pain.
Liverpool hosts West Ham on Saturday.
Off the field
It seems Crystal Palace and its manager, Oliver Glasner, are heading toward a messy break-up.
Glasner, who led Palace to its first ever trophy last season by winning the FA Cup, has already confirmed he’s leaving his job at the end of the season and has been non-committal about whether he would even be staying that long.
Fans held up a banner containing the words, “Fans disrespected — Glasner finished” during a match against Wolverhampton last weekend.
