By Tennis Now | Saturday, October 7, 2017
Rafael Nadal beat Grigor Dimitrov for the eighth time in nine meetings, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, to reach his 110th career final in Beijing.
Photo credit: China Open Facebook
Rafael Nadal streaked through a strong finish into his 110th career ATP final.
The world No. 1 grinded down Grigor Dimitrov, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, charging into his fourth career Beijing final.
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The rematch of their epic Australian Open semifinal was Nadal’s eighth win in nine meetings with Dimitrov and sent the 31-year-old Spaniard into his ninth final of the season.
Empowered by his run to the US Open title last month, Nadal stretched his winning streak to 11 matches, including fighting off two match points in the tie break rallying past Lucas Pouille, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5, in his Beijing opener.
The top-seeded Spaniard will face world No. 19 and nemesis Nick Kyrgios in tomorrow’s final.
Kyrgios permitted just 10 points on serve powering past fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, 6-3, 7-5, in one hour, 17 minutes.
Rallies were brief in an opening set dominated by the Kyrgios serve.
Montreal champion Zverev fought off a pair of break points then won a scrambling 20-shot rally featuring forehand angles from both men holding in the opening game of the second set.
Zverev double faulted away the break then slammed his racquet to the blue court in disgust donating a 6-5 lead to Kyrgios.
Slashing an ace down the middle brought Kyrgios triple match point. He slammed a service winner wide to seal his third win over the 20-year-old German in four meetings this season.
Kyrgios and Nadal have split four career meetings with the 22-year-old Australian scoring a 6-2, 7-5 triumph in their most recent encounter in Cincinnati.
A year ago, Dimitrov broke Nadal's serve five times in a row beating the King of Clay for the first time, 6-2, 6-4, to burst into the Beijing quarterfinals.
The Bulgarian faced a much more confident Nadal today.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion powered through the final set earning his 60th victory of the season.
Nadal will play for his first Beijing championship since 2005 when he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero and Guillermo Coria in successtion to take the title. Ferrero is in Beijing this week coaching Zverev.