Rafael Nadal fought back from a deficit to claim victory over compatriot Pablo Carreno Busta, to book a place in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday, handing Argentinian Diego Schwartzman the last spot in ATP Tour Finals.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion soared to a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory, ending Pablo Carreno’s hopes of qualifying for the season-ending tournament in London.
Top seed Nadal will now face Alexander Zverev for a spot in Sunday’s final after the German defeated Stan Wawrinka 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).
Speaking after the game, Nadal says: “The thing that really matters to me, I need to return better”.
“My serve is working well, I think, so the rest of the game more or less I am playing better and better.
“I need to return better if I want to have chances to keep going.”
Schwartzman’s fate was out of his own hands earlier on Friday after crumbling to a quarter-final defeat in the hands of Daniil Medvedev, who is set to face Milos Raonic in the other semi-final fixture.
Nadal could add to his record-breaking outing in France by equaling Novak Djokovic’s record of 36 Masters titles if he triumphs in Sunday’s final at Bercy Arena, having powered his way to a record-breaking 13th French Open title at Roland Garros in October.
The 34-year-old’s best effort in the French Masters was a 2007 final loss to David Nalbandian back in 2007.
The world number two was in trouble when facing three break points in the opening game of the second set, but he saved them all before forcing a decider in the 12th game with a brilliant forehand winner.
He capped a dominant third-set display by reeling off five successive games.
Fourth seed Zverev reached the semis for the first time by extending his winning streak to 11 matches with a hard-fought success over Wawrinka.
The 23-year-old German broke Wawrinka when the Swiss served for the second set before overpowering his opponent in the tie-break.
Russian third seed Medvedev raced to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Schwartzman in just 64 minutes to set up a last-four clash with Milos Raonic, who saved two match points to beat in-form Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7).
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