Rafael Nadal reached his 11th Italian Open semi-final on Friday after beating Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-0 in a rollercoaster encounter in Rome.
Nadal was broken in the very first game of the opening set before he rallied back to deny his compatriot a single game in the second with a masterful clay-court display.
The victory means Nadal will have a chance to claim revenge against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who beat him in Madrid last week, after the Greek was handed a walkover following Roger Federer’s earlier withdrawal.
The 37-year-old Swiss, who was making a return to the European clay court season after two years away, won back-to-back matches against Joao Sousa and Borna Coric to reach the quarter-finals.
But the the 20-times grand slam champion was forced to pull out with an injury to his right leg.
Diego Schwartzman also advanced to the semi-finals with a dominant 6-4 6-2 victory over world No. 6 Kei Nishikori on the Court Grandstand.
Schwartzman nearly squandered a 5-0 lead in the opening set as Nishikori rallied to win the next four games, but did enough to progress to the last four on Saturday.
The Argentine will face the winner of Friday’s late game between compatriot Juan Martin del Potro and world No.1 Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final.