By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, May 18, 2018
The man with the red lightning bolt across his shirt left Rafael Nadal looking thunderstruck for a set.
Nadal responded to the deficit with force of nature ferocity.
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The top seed stormed past home favorite Fabio Fognini, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, into his 10th Rome semifinal—and first since falling to Novak Djokovic in the 2014 final.
Nadal scored his sixth straight win over Fognini raising his Rome record to 54-6.
Continuing his quest for an eighth Rome title—and regaining the world No. 1 ranking—Nadal will face either Djokovic or Kei Nishikori in tomorrow's semifinals.
The inscrutable and imaginative Fognini has posed problems for the King of Clay in the past—he made major history as the first man to fight back from two sets down and defeat Nadal in the 2015 US Open—and showed shot-making flair rallying through the first set.
Fognini was bidding to join Djokovic, Dominic Thiem and Gaston Gaudio as the fourth man to defeat the king of clay three times on dirt and put himself in position after an impressive opening-set rally.
Down 1-4, Fognini caught fire blazing through five consecutive games as Nadal delved into periods of sloppy and indecisive play that saw him spray 10 unforced errors and frequently leave his shots short in the court.
Improvisational skills and shifting spins helped Fognini snatch the opening set and ignite the Italian crowd.
Nadal's Rome run ended in the quarterfinals in each of the past three years. He was in no mood for early exits today.
Resetting, Nadal cleaned up his act in the second set.
Reading the direction of Fognini's drive volley, Nadal curled a crackling forehand pass crosscourt breaking for 2-0.
Slashing an ace, Nadal backed up the break for 3-0.
A flair for finesse is a Fognini strength; he flicked a forehand drop shot that kissed the tape and dribbled over sealing his first hold of the second set.
Striking with more depth, authority and ferocity, Nadal seized a triple break point lead in the sixth game.
Fognini answered scorching a running forehand down the line followed by a clean backhand down the opposite sideline. But the third break point was a bridge too far and when Fognini flattened a forehand into net, Nadal had his second break and a 5-1 lead.
Stepping into the court, Nadal crunched a crosscourt two-hander streaking through the second set to level after 93 minutes. Fognini doubled Nadal's error output (10 to 5) in the second set and did not win a point on his second serve (0 for 5).
The turning point of the decider came quickly and decisively. Fognini missed on the second part of a drop shot-lob combination tumbling into a triple break point hole. Trying to squeeze a running backhand down the line, the Italian missed the mark as a focused Nadal fired through a love break for 2-1.
Scalding an ace off the scoreboard, Nadal slammed shut a love hold consolidating for 3-1.
The 30-year-old Italian took a medical timeout for treatment of a knee issue, but Fognini was teetering for competitive balance after slapping successive errors gifting the break and a 5-2 lead to the 11-time Monte-Carlo champion.
The seven-time Rome champion closed a two hour, 14-minute conquest in style, pausing at net to inquire about Fognini's physical issues before offering the Italian a pat on the back.
Nadal improved to 21-2 on the season, including a 17-1 mark on his beloved red clay.