• Monte Carlo Masters

Brilliant Nadal overpowers Ferrer

Rafael Nadal is chasing a sixth win in Monte Carlo © Getty Images

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Rafael Nadal continued his march towards another Monte Carlo Masters crown wih 6-2 6-3 win over David Ferrer.

Nadal has looked in awesome form back on clay this week and Ferrer had no answers as he was bundled out of the tournament in an hour and 15 minutes.

Nadal saved an early break point but quickly hit his stride, with the kicking forehand and flat backhand bewildering Ferrer to the extent that he was broken in game three.

It was only a couple of months ago that Nadal's career looked in real danger of falling to pieces on account of injury and during the American hard-court season he looked short on confidence. However, the switch to his beloved clay has sparked a revival and his stunning hitting on both wings earned him a second break in game five.

Ferrer is a wily campaigner on clay and worked a break point of his own in game six, but Nadal has more than brute force in his game and a fine lob averted the danger and he held serve in his next service game to take the set.

Breaks were traded at the start of the second set and the shock of losing his serve appeared to jolt Nadal into a higher gear as he hit back to break Ferrer again.

Ferrer lost confidence after surrendering his serve and was broken again when sending down a double fault but he hit back with a second break of his own as for the first time in the match he moved Nadal deep behind the baseline.

As when losing his serve earlier in the set, Nadal hit back and broke serve to wrap up the match when Ferrer fired a drive into the net.

It will be an all-Spanish affair in the final as Fernando Verdasco pulled off a shock with a 6-2 6-2 victory over No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic.

Verdasco has mixed the sublime and the ridiculous this week and against Djokovic he produced some of his best tennis of the tournament. The Djokovic serve is something that has left many observers scratching their heads this term and it was broken twice in the first set as Verdasco dominated.

It would be unfair to say the contest tipped in Verdasco's favour on account of Djokovic's serve, as the Spaniard produced some superb play from the back of the court on both wings. Djokovic earned a break of serve in the second set, but unfortunately for him Verdasco did the same on three occasions.

Djokovic looked a beaten man when being broken for the third time and he made it easy for Verdasco whose sometimes suspect ability when closing out matches was not put to the test.

The small matter of Nadal stands in between Verdasco and the title. The pair have met on nine previous occasions and Nadal has won the lot.

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