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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 MAY 2014 49 TENNIS CYCLING Sport Nadal returns to Madrid final Rafa Nadal continued his serene progress in pursuit of consecutive Madrid Open crowns when he swept past Spanish compatriot Roberto Bautista 6-4 6-3 on Saturday to reach the final Marcel Kittel comfortably won stage two of the Giro d'Italia in Belfast as his Giant-Shimano team controlled the sprint finish THE world number one, chasing a 63rd career title and a 44th on clay, has not been on top form on his fa- voured surface this year, losing in the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo and Barcelona. However, he has shown glimpses of his dominant best in front of adoring fans in the Spanish capi- tal, where he is yet to drop a set, as he warms up for a tilt at a record- extending ninth French Open title starting at Roland Garros in Paris at the end of the month. Nadal's semi-final victory against the unheralded Bautista ended the world number 45's best run at a Masters event and set up a clash on Sunday with either another Spaniard, fifth seed David Ferrer, who beat him in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals, or Japanese 10th seed Kei Nishikori. Nadal said his performance was further confirmation of his im- proving form after Friday's fine win against sixth-ranked Czech Tomas Berdych in the last eight. "After I think a great match yes- terday, to have the confirmation today that the improvement is real is very good news for me," he told a news conference. "And being in a final here in a dif- ficult tournament at home after los- ing two weeks in a row in the quar- ter-finals means a lot to me," added the 27-year-old Majorcan, who was also champion in Madrid in 2010 and in 2005 when it was an indoor hard court event. "This is great news in order to go out and play tomorrow's match but also for what may come in the fu- ture." Nadal broke Bautista's serve in the opening game at the Magic Box are- na but his gutsy compatriot fought back to level at 3-3 before immedi- ately losing his serve again. Bautista looked to have crumbled in the face of a barrage of fierce Nadal drives in the second set but raised his game to break for 4-2. Nadal, who will be contesting his 90th career final on Sunday, broke serve for a fifth time in the ninth game and sealed victory on his first match point with a rasping fore- hand down the line. Bautista will break into the top 30 for the first time thanks to his per- formance in Madrid. He upset Argentine Juan Martin del Potro at this year's Australian Open and claimed a second top-10 scalp of the season when he beat Berdych in the second round at the Indian Wells Masters event. "It's been a beautiful week for me," Bautista said. "I have the feeling that I could have played today's match a little bit better," added the 26-year-old, who was facing Nadal for the first time. "I'm happy with what I've been doing recently so I hope that the rest will keep on going in the same way." Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal returns a ball to Spanish tennis player Roberto Bautista during their men's singles semiļ¬nal tennis match of the Madrid Masters at the Magic Box Kittel takes sprint victory in Belfast THE German, the best of the sprinters in this year's Giro field, kicked for the line with 50 me- tres to go and eased away to finish ahead of FDJ's Nacer Bouhanni and Cannondale's Elia Viviani, with Yorkshireman Ben Swift seventh for Team Sky. All the riders made it safely through the tight final bend on a greasy surface as the entire field survived what had been a testing day in often soaking conditions, a day after Dan Martin's hopes were ended in an opening-stage crash. The 219km stage had taken the riders north out of Belfast through Antrim and Ballymena up to Gi- ants Causeway and back along the picturesque coastal road where thousands of fans lined the roads in spite of the conditions. As the peloton left the city, the rain was pouring with the weather threatening to take centre stage again, but while there were one or two tumbles there would be no ma- jor incidents. A four-man break formed of Jeffry Johan Romero Corredor (Colom- bia), Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin), Sander Armee (Lotto Belisol) and Andrea Fedi (Neri Sottoli-Yellow Fluo) went off up the road and built a lead which reached six minutes before levelling off. Tjallingi led the break over the two climbs to claim the first climb- er's blue jersey of the Giro, while Fedi claimed the intermediate sprint. Their lead began to tumble as Or- ica GreenEdge - looking to defend the pink jersey held by Svein Tuft - sat at the front of the peloton and the roads began to dry. The breakaway began to splinter in the final 10km, with Tjallingi launching a doomed attempt at a solo victory. He was caught with a little over 3km to go as the lead-out trains be- gan to jostle for position. Cannondale and Trek Factory both took turns on the front, but Giant-Shimano were always well placed behind and made their move inside the final kilometre. Some shuff ling in the Orica GreenEdge pack as they approached the line saw the leader's pink jersey move to Tuft's team-mate Michael Matthews. Away from Belfast, Martin was due to have surgery on his broken collarbone on Saturday evening after the opening stage crash which ended his Giro. The Irishman was hoping to be riding into Dublin where Sunday's stage three is scheduled to finish, but will be in the capital 24 hours ahead of that schedule to have the operation. Garmin-Sharp also confirmed that Martin's team-mate Koldo Fernandez, injured in the same crash during Friday's team time trial, would have an operation on his own broken collarbone at the same time. Marcel Kittel: Won stage two