Rafael Nadal survived a scare from Italian Fabio Fognini to reach the Italian Open semifinals with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory in Rome.
The World No. 2 looked comfortable in the opening set, as he stormed to a 4-1 lead before Fognini rallied to win five straight games and take the first set.
The Spaniard came into the match having won the last five meetings between the two and he quickly took the second set, breaking Fognini in the second game and never looked back.
While the World No. 21 eased off in the final games of the second set to preserve energy, he had no response to Nadal's power and wasn't helped by an injury to his left knee which he received treatment for.
He took the first game of the third but was broken in his next service game and at 4-2 down Fognini couldn't serve out the game despite having two advantage points as Nadal clinched a spot in the final four.
Nadal will have plenty of rest ahead of his semifinal, but the same cannot be said of the man that we will meet -- Novak Djokovic -- who dropped the first set of his quarterfinal to Kei Nishikori.
The Serb eventually managed to take a 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory, but a lot would have been taken out of Djockovic's tank ahead of his showdown with Nadal.
The clash in Rome will be the first that Djokovic and Nadal have met since last year's Madrid Masters -- a 6-2, 6-4 victory for the Spaniard the outcome on that occasion.
Elsewhere, Marin Cilic eased his way through to the semifinals in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Pablo Carreno Busta.
The Croatian dominated on his own serve, putting pressure on Carreno Busta to fight back on his own service games but he was unable to match the World No. 5.