Sizzling Nadal in Barcelona final

BARCELONA: Rafael Nadal reached the final of Barcelona Open by dispatching Argentine Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.

Nadal struck the first blow by breaking the unseeded Zeballos in the fourth game and the difference in quality between the two players soon began to show.

Zeballos earned two break points in the fourth game of the second set but 14-time grand-slam winner Nadal recovered to hold his serve and wrapped up his victory in 94 minutes, setting up a re-match with Dominic Thiem on Sunday (today).

Thiem beat Nadal last year on clay in the Argentina Open semi-finals.

Thiem claimed his first win over world number one Andy Murray by hammering the Scot 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Murray squeezed past Albert Ramos-Vinolas in a three-hour encounter on Friday and looked flat-footed as Thiem roared through the opening set with three breaks of serve in just over half an hour.

The Scot had to stave off another break point in a marathon opening game to the second set.

But he held on and then jumped at his chance to break for 5-3 before serving out to take the match to a decider.

Murray, though, still looks a pale shadow of the player that rose to number one on a spectacular run at the end of last year as he struggles for form and fitness after an elbow injury.

Thiem had to battle back from a break down in the third, but constantly put pressure on the Murray serve and broke another three times in the deciding set to seal his place in the final.