All-time blunder helps Djokovic book Nadal date

Novak Djokovic benefited from one of the worst mistakes you will ever see in a tennis match, as the Serb sealed a semi-final date with Rafael Nadal at the Italian Open.

Djokovic was up against it in his quarter-final match against Kei Nishikori after dropping the first set.

However, the Serb recovered to win 2-6 6-1 6-3 – sealing a 51st career meeting against world number two Nadal.

Nishikori was guilty of a horrendous blunder in the third set that may well have contributed to his downfall.

The 28-year-old had Djokovic on the ropes during a crazy point at 1-1 in the deciding set, but he was incapable of delivering the killer blow.

Nishikori had three chances to smash home a winner from the net, with Djokovic somehow managing to keep the rally alive on each occasion.

When the Serb’s third desperate lob bounced just over Nishikori’s side of the net, all the Japanese star needed to do was hit the simplest of shots over the net for an easy winner.

To the astonishment of commentators and fans, Nishikori smashed the ball into the net from point-blank range to gift Djokovic the point.

The former world number one was on the back foot early against Nishikori as the Japanese baseliner capitalised on consecutive backhand errors to forge the first break.

The Serb broke Nishikori three times to force a decider before edging a tight third set with some courageous shot-making.

“Today, the quality of tennis was really high,” Djokovic said. “Kei was playing fantastic, especially in the first set… and it took me little bit of time to adjust to his pace.”

Nadal rallied from a set down before easing past Fabio Fognini 4-6 6-1 6-2 in their quarter-final clash.

The Spaniard started strongly and raced into a 4-1 lead but Fognini refused to surrender in front of a partisan Rome crowd, clawing a break back before running away with the set.

The Italian’s joy was short-lived, however, as Nadal regrouped, charging around the court and putting his opponent under relentless pressure as he took the second set to level things up.

Fognini was then hampered by an injury to his left knee as Nadal continued to fire on all cylinders and the Spaniard duly wrapped up the match in two hours and 14 minutes.

“Having a break early in the second set definitely helped my confidence,” Nadal said.

“But then, I think, I played more aggressively with my forehand and when I play more aggressively with my forehand, then the backhand becomes better.

“I feel it is an important victory for me. There’s a lot of positive things out of the match today.”

Meanwhile, defending champion Alexander Zverev beat ninth seed David Goffin of Belgium 6-4 3-6 6-3 to remain on course to defend his title.

The German will battle Croatian Marin Cilic for a place in the final.

Fourth seed Cilic pulled off a regulation 6-3 6-3 victory over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta earlier in the day.

With AAP