Rafael Nadal reached the final of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart with a straight-set victory over France’s Gael Monfils. The 29-year-old Spaniard, who is the top seed, won 6-3 6-4 inside 80 minutes and will play Viktor Troicki in Sunday’s final.
Monfils was hindered by five double faults and he failed to convert any of his four break points.
Nadal’s last title on grass came at Wimbledon in 2010.
“I think I’m playing well,” Nadal told Sky Sports. “It’s important for me, after losing at Roland Garros, to keep going and have the right attitude, the right level of tennis in the next couple of weeks and that is what I am trying.
“I’m practising every day with a very positive attitude, working a lot of hours on court. I’m enjoying again the tennis and every victory is important and being in the final is great news.”
His opponent in the final, Troicki, beat Croatia’s Marin Cilic 6-3 6-7 (1-7) 7-6 (7-2) and the 29-year-old Serb will be bidding to win his third career title, and second of the year, after his success in Sydney in January.
Elsewhere, Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic closed in on a maiden WTA title by beating former world number one Jelena Jankovic to reach the Topshelf Open final.
The fourth-seeded 18-year-old showed no fatigue after a gruelling three-hour quarter-final against Kristina Mladenovic, winning 6-3 6-3 in 87 minutes in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
In the men’s tournament, France’s Nicolas Mahut reached the final with a 5-7 6-3 6-4 victory over Robin Haase.
“I’m slowly improving on grass. It would be fantastic to win here, but I can only focus on the final and try to play my best.”
He added: “I was feeling better with my tennis after the first two matches this week, it is always tough to start on this surface.
“Today I played aggressive and did what I had to do to keep my level high. I’ve not been in a grass final since 2011 (Wimbledon, losing to Novak Djokoic). This is important news for me.
“I’m enjoying being in this final and I’ll hope to be ready tomorrow.”
Serbian Troicki was overwhelmed to have done so well this week.
“It’s my first grass court final and I’m really excited to have gotten here,” he said.
“It was a great match for me, I served very well and used my slice. The match was very even most of the time but I was able to use a couple of chances to make the difference.”
Nadal into Stuttgart final
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