Novak Djokovic came from behind to beat Roger Federer and book his place in the Rome Masters final, where he will face Rafael Nadal.
Serbian hits back to
Novak Djokovic turned his match around with Roger Federer to come from behind and win 4-6 6-3 6-3 and book his place in the final of the Rome Masters against Rafael Nadal.
The defending champion looked dead and buried as Federer cruised into a 6-4 2-1 lead, but a break in play because of the rain seemed to hit the former world number one hardest.
Djokovic emerged a different player after the hour-long rain interval, and he came storming back as Federer crumbled.
Federer was broken five times after the rain break by the world number three, who will take on top seed Nadal after the Spaniard eased past Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 6-3.
After starting the match in bright sunshine, Federer was dominant as he regularly forced Djokovic to save break points, until at 4-4 the Swiss finally managed to get the breakthrough.
Early break
Federer served out the set and broke in the opening game of the second after Djokovic netted a backhand, but when leading 2-1 the heavens opened and the rain came to help the Serbian.
Djokovic found some form after the delay, and after fending off Federer's chances of a double break, he hit back with two successive breaks to lead 5-3.
Djokovic served out the set to love and the match had totally changed complexion, despite Federer breaking first to lead the deciding set 3-1.
Three unforced Federer errors gave Djokovic a break back, and with that Federer's confidence and form seemed to drain away from him.
Rain rumble
"Things were going well for me, I was playing him well and serving well when I had to and putting him under pressure so it (the rain) kind of definitely changed the momentum," Federer said.
"I mean, the rain delay came at a perfect moment for him because he came through a tough service game at 2-0 down.
"Instead of going 3-0, he goes 2-1 and then the rain comes, so he's got something positive to look at.
"Then when he comes back conditions changed, so, sure, it helped him. But then again, who knows.
"He might have come back anyway and beat me in the end. He did well today to use the rain delay in his favor, that's for sure."
Rare feat
Nadal broke his opponent three times in the opening set but required just a single break in the second as he ran out a convincing winner over the Chilean in just one hour and 15 minutes.
Gonzalez pulled off the rare feat of breaking Nadal to love to rally after losing his serve early on.
However the Spaniard produced a fierce reaction, winning the next six games on his way to victory.
"I'm very happy. It was certainly a very good result against a tough opponent like Fernando," Nadal said. "I'll have to be playing at 100 percent to have a good chance of winning (the final).
"He's going to play aggressively, I think, because that's his game. I have to play aggressively with my forehand and try to have control of the points.
"If I don't do that it's going to be really difficult because if he is attacking it is really tough to play against Novak."
