Djokovic and Nadal meet in Rome semis

Novak Djokovic booked a 51st career meeting against Rafael Nadal after overcoming Kei Nishikori to reach the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semi-finals yesterday.

Nadal had beaten Fabio Fognini 4-6 6-1 6-2 earlier in the day to remain in the hunt for an eighth title in Rome and Djokovic joined his great rival in the last four after defeating Nishikori 2-6 6-1 6-3.

It is the first semi-final Djokovic has reached in a disappointing year for the Serbian following his return from injury.

Djokovic holds a 26-24 lead over Nadal in their head-to-head.

“It means a lot to me to be able to play [in the] semi-finals of a tournament again,” said the Serbian.

“This is what I was looking forward to. This is what I was hoping to achieve.”

Seven-time champion Nadal, 31, needs to win the Masters title to reclaim the world No 1 spot from Roger Federer.

The Spanish world No 2 won 4-6 6-1 6-2 against home player Fabio Fognini, ranked 21st in the world.

He fought back from a 4-1 deficit to take the first set, but could not sustain that level of play as Nadal’s quality shone through.

Nadal, who has lost twice to Fognini on clay, took his second match point to win in two hours and 14 minutes.

German second seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev, who beat British No 1 Kyle Edmund in the last 16, faces Belgium’s David Goffin for the right to play Cilic, who beat Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-3 6-3.

The women’s semi-finalists are No 1 seed Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova, Anett Kontaveit and Elina Svitolina