Top seed Rafael Nadal of Spain beat Andy Murray of
Britain in a three-set thriller to reach the semi-finals of the Italian Open.
Murray blew away a 4-2 lead in the decider as Nadal hit
back to win 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 40 minutes in Rome on 16-05-2014 Friday,
reports Xinhua.
Nadal, 27, will play Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who
progressed after German Tommy Haas’s retirement, in the semi-final.
Nadal said he produced his best performance both
physically and mentally to beat Murray.
“The physical part is really good, the mental part too,
and my tennis is going to be there sooner or later,” said Nadal.
“This was one of my best matches in a while,” he said.
Earlier, two-time champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia edged
past Spain’s fifth seed David Ferrer 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 and will face Canadian
eighth seed Milos Raonic, who beat Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 in the other
semi-final.