Defending champion Rafael Nadal swept past Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 to advance to his 50th Masters final and first on clay this season at the Italian Open on Saturday. The eight-time Rome winner had been stunned by Tsitsipas, seeded eighth, in the semi-finals at the Madrid Open last weekend. But the 32-year-old Spaniard was clinical on the red clay of the Foro Italico, winning through in 1hr 42min to reach the final for the 11th time.

"It's an important victory for me," said Nadal. "I played a solid match against a good player who is winning a lot of matches on this surface. Last week I didn't play very well in Madrid. Today I did better." Nadal, seeded second, was playing his fourth straight semi-final, but had not managed to go further on clay this season. But he has not dropped a set so far this week and next plays either world number one Novak Djokovic or Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who meet in the second semi-final. Nadal's run to the Rome final comes just a week before he starts his assault on a 12th French Open title at Roland Garros.