Nadal, who has been sidelined by injury since tearing his psoas muscle during a defeat to Mackenzie McDonald at the Australian Open in January, said in a statement on social media that although his condition has improved in recent days, he is not yet ready to return to the match court. 

The 36-year-old, who first won at Roland Garros on his debut in 2005 and has not missed an edition of the tournament since, now faces the unprecedented prospect of contesting the tournament without a competitive clay-court match under his belt – if he makes it all. 

“I am very sorry to announce that I will not be able to be in Rome,” wrote the Spaniard, who has won 10 titles in the Italian capital. 

“You all know how much it hurts me to miss another of the tournaments that has been so important to me, both professionally and personally, because of all the affection and support of the Italian fans. 

“Despite having noticed an improvement in the last few days, it has been many months since I’ve been able to train at a high level and the adaptation process takes time. All that is left for me to do is accept it and keep working.”

When Nadal suffered the injury in mid-January, it seemed unimaginable he would find himself in this position almost four months later. The initial prognosis suggested he would be out for up to eight weeks, leaving him touch and go for the sunshine swing of Indian Wells and Miami, but almost certain to return in time for the start of the European clay-court season. Instead, he has been forced to pull out of events in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid and now Rome. In the past, all have been key staging posts for Nadal on the road to glory in Paris. 

Mention of an improvement in his condition is encouraging, given that Nadal had previously said his hip was not healing as expected. But even if the 22-time grand slam champions able to mount a title defence at Roland Garros, the effects of his inactivity could be compounded by his recent drop in the rankings. Currently 14th, he could face the likes of Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz as early as round four.

Meanwhile Alcaraz, the world No 2, further underlined his credentials as the heir apparent to Nadal with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Borna Coric at the Madrid Open. The Spaniard, who was presented with a cake in honour of his 20th birthday afterwards, now stands within one win of becoming the first man since Nadal to successfully defend the Madrid title.

“It means a lot to me, playing a final again here in Madrid,” said Alcaraz, who defeated Nadal and Djokovic on the way to last year’s title win. “It’s such a special place for me and I have great memories since I came here to play [as an] under-12. Of course, last year was amazing.

“Turning 20 like that is special, so I will enjoy the final here and of course I will try to make all of Spain happy.”

To do so, he will need to find a way past Jan-Lennard Struff, the German world No 65, who fought back from a set down to avenge his qualifying defeat to Russia’s Aslan Karatsev. Struff, whose path to a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory was eased as Karatsev laboured with a thigh injury in the closing stages, becomes the first lucky loser to reach a Masters 1000 final.

“It’s an incredible journey,” said Struff. “I wouldn’t have thought about this when I lost the match against Aslan in qualies. It just feels incredible, it’s my second final on the ATP Tour and it’s just amazing it’s at a Masters.”

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Nothing liberates a player quite like winning from match point down, which is why so many go on to win tournaments after surviving a brush with defeat, swinging with abandon as they make the most of what feels like a free hit. 

This year alone, Jelena Ostapenko, Leylah Fernandez and Caroline Garcia have all won titles after saving a match point at some stage, and Petra Kvitova could become the next addition to that list after battling past former champion Madison Keys in Cincinnati to reach her second final in eight weeks. 

Kvitova came within a point of defeat in a gruelling win over Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann in the opening round, and the 28th-ranked Czech was once again required to draw on her powers of recovery as she fought back from a set down to claim an emotional win over the home favourite. 

“It’s like a second chance, or that you were almost gone and now you are still here, and playing in the draw,” said Kvitova following her 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-3 victory. “I’m glad that this happened to me. I don’t think that it’s ever happened to me, so that’s nice, to have this experience even at my age.

“It’s a big boost for me, for sure, after the season that I had. I know I won Eastbourne [in June], but it was on the grass, my favourite grass. It was pretty fast, faster than Wimbledon.

“So I’m really glad for it. The first round was really tight, down from the match points. I think always these matches are important for the tournament, for the confidence as well.”

The former Wimbledon champion, who has rarely prospered in the heat and humidity of a Cincinnati summer, will be equally encouraged by further evidence of the resilience she showed against Teichmann. Keys has been in blistering form this week, beating world No 1 Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion, in successive rounds, and the American’s burgeoning confidence was evident as she raced into an early lead.

Kvitova was twice required to stave off points for a double break that would have left her trailing 4-1 in the first set. She worked hard to level at 3-3, and later went on to recover from 5-2 down in the first-set tiebreak, but a blazing off-backhand winner from Keys brought up a second set point from which the Czech, for once, was unable to recover. 

Things are rarely straightforward between two of the finest exponents of first-strike tennis in the women’s game, however, and so it proved again as Kvitova built on early breaks in each of the next two sets to claim her fifth win in nine meetings with Keys. 

“I came back somehow, and the tiebreak was just very, very close,” said Kvitova. “We always have battles, like three sets.

“I just stayed there and tried to play until the end of every point. 

“It was an incredible battle.”

Kvitova will face another battle in Sunday’s final, where Garcia awaits. The Frenchwoman’s renascent form continued with a rain-interrupted 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Aryna Sabalenka. 

Garcia, who becomes the first woman ever to reach a WTA 1000 final after coming through qualifying, raced through the opening set before the first downpour of the afternoon forced a suspension of play. Her level dipped after the delay, but she recovered her rhythm at the start of the decider and ensured there was no repeat when the players were once again forced off at 3-1 in the decider. 

With 26 wins since the start of June, including titles on grass and clay, the former world No 4 has been the summer’s form player.

“No one expected it, that’s for sure,” said Garcia. “It’s a long way to come from qualies.”

In the men’s draw, Borna Coric defeated ninth seed Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first ATP Masters final since 2018. The Croatian, a former world No 12, is currently ranked 152 after undergoing shoulder surgery last year, but could break the top 30 next week should he follow up his win over Norrie, who looked uncharacteristically fatigued after his epic win over Carlos Alcaraz the previous evening.

If Coric is to put a title-winning seal on a week that has already brought wins over Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger-Aliassime, he will need to find a way past Stefanos Tsitsipas, who came through 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-3 against Daniil Medvedev, the world No 1. 

Tsitsipas, who saved a set point in the opener, had won only two of his previous nine meetings with Medvedev, and looked to be in trouble again when he fell 5-0 behind in the second set. But the Greek fourth seed recovered to avoid the whitewash and held on determinedly – and at times brilliantly – in the decider after Medvedev, distracted by fireworks outside the stadium, hit four double faults to concede a break in the sixth game. 

“He got really tight, I think, with the first serves, wasn’t putting a lot of first serves in, gave me a double fault in the last few games of the third set,” said Tsitsipas. “I felt like the ball wasn’t really flying off his racquet. 

“I felt like he was trying too hard, and that’s when I knew that I pushed him there, and it was something that I did over many consecutive rallies, a lot of physical effort. I knew that was my opportunity to go and strike.”

Tsitsipas anticipates a battle in Sunday’s final, which will be his first in Cincinnati.

“I’m prepared for it,” he said. “I know it’s not an easy task playing against him. He’s coming back from an injury, he’s playing great tennis, and he’s going to work very hard for it.”  

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