<p>The Spanish top seed, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the US Open last month, eventually saw off his Serbian opponent 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (9/7). Earlier, French fifth seed Monfils used an array of fine passing shots to beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3, staying in control throughout their semi-final.<br /><br />"I played well in the first set, I played an unbelievable tie-break. After that, I lost my focus and lost my concentration in one game on my serve and it was impossible to come back in the second set," said Nadal.<br /><br />"After 5-3 in the third, I started to play very bad. I can't understand why I lost my serve. It's impossible for me to understand how I lost. It was on my serve at 5-all and 30-love. That was the worst moment of the match for me.<br /><br />"After that, I won and I'm in the final. I'm happy for that, but I'm not happy with the way I played in the last three games of the match," he added. Nadal broke Troicki in the eighth game of the final set to lead 5-3, but let the Serbian come back into the match as he charged hard to the net to break back.<br /><br />Troicki, ranked 54th in the world, scored another break thanks to a forehand volley by Nadal that landed in the net, taking the lead 6-5, but he also failed to serve out the match, double-faulting on a break point to tie at 6-all.<br /><br />Troicki was the first to get to match point, leading 6-5 in the tie-breaker with the Spaniard serving, only to see Nadal hit his favourite forehand winner. Troicki was server on his second match point, but hit an easy forehand into the net.<br /><br />Nadal gathered the momentum to hit a service return winner to take a commanding 8-7 lead and the match was his when Troicki hit his forehand wide to surrender the two-hour-38-minute battle.<br /><br />"I played a great tournament and I'm still happy that I reached the semi-finals," said Troicki. "I could have lost in the second round to (Austria's Jurgen) Melzer.... I was a match point down. And I made it to the semi-finals. Right now, I'm disappointed, but still I think it was a good result for me.<br /><br />"It gave me a lot of confidence for the next tournament. I hope I forget this match," he added. Monfils, who lost to Stepanek at the Brisbane International earlier this year, said the key was practice time against a serve-and-volleyer.<br /><br />"It's tough, because there are not a lot of guys like him, I mean serve and volleyers. I tried to return good, to return with consistency, and tried to make him hit a volley every time, and I had a bit of luck," said Monfils. "In Brisbane, I had a shoulder problem, so I couldn't serve 100 per cent. I came today very strong. That made the difference," he said.</p>
<p>The Spanish top seed, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning the US Open last month, eventually saw off his Serbian opponent 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 7-6 (9/7). Earlier, French fifth seed Monfils used an array of fine passing shots to beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3, staying in control throughout their semi-final.<br /><br />"I played well in the first set, I played an unbelievable tie-break. After that, I lost my focus and lost my concentration in one game on my serve and it was impossible to come back in the second set," said Nadal.<br /><br />"After 5-3 in the third, I started to play very bad. I can't understand why I lost my serve. It's impossible for me to understand how I lost. It was on my serve at 5-all and 30-love. That was the worst moment of the match for me.<br /><br />"After that, I won and I'm in the final. I'm happy for that, but I'm not happy with the way I played in the last three games of the match," he added. Nadal broke Troicki in the eighth game of the final set to lead 5-3, but let the Serbian come back into the match as he charged hard to the net to break back.<br /><br />Troicki, ranked 54th in the world, scored another break thanks to a forehand volley by Nadal that landed in the net, taking the lead 6-5, but he also failed to serve out the match, double-faulting on a break point to tie at 6-all.<br /><br />Troicki was the first to get to match point, leading 6-5 in the tie-breaker with the Spaniard serving, only to see Nadal hit his favourite forehand winner. Troicki was server on his second match point, but hit an easy forehand into the net.<br /><br />Nadal gathered the momentum to hit a service return winner to take a commanding 8-7 lead and the match was his when Troicki hit his forehand wide to surrender the two-hour-38-minute battle.<br /><br />"I played a great tournament and I'm still happy that I reached the semi-finals," said Troicki. "I could have lost in the second round to (Austria's Jurgen) Melzer.... I was a match point down. And I made it to the semi-finals. Right now, I'm disappointed, but still I think it was a good result for me.<br /><br />"It gave me a lot of confidence for the next tournament. I hope I forget this match," he added. Monfils, who lost to Stepanek at the Brisbane International earlier this year, said the key was practice time against a serve-and-volleyer.<br /><br />"It's tough, because there are not a lot of guys like him, I mean serve and volleyers. I tried to return good, to return with consistency, and tried to make him hit a volley every time, and I had a bit of luck," said Monfils. "In Brisbane, I had a shoulder problem, so I couldn't serve 100 per cent. I came today very strong. That made the difference," he said.</p>