World No. 2 Rafael Nadal could almost see the finish line as he faced a rock-solid Daniil Medvedev for a spot in the championship match at the ATP Finals. The 20-time Grand Slam winner claimed a tense opening set against the Russian, a player he had defeated in their previous three ATP Head2Head encounters, and broke late in the second set to serve for the match, leading 5-4.

A victory would have put him one step closer to claiming the only Big Title that has eluded him after 10 appearances. But Medvedev made Nadal wait a little longer, as he broke back to love and turned the match on its head to reach his first final at the season-finale. "I think at the beginning of the match he was better than me," Nadal assessed in his post-match press conference. "I was able to save my serves with troubles, but then I played well to have the break and then to close the set. "In the second, a little bit the same story at the beginning, but at the end of the set I was playing a little bit better than him. And then in the 5-4 I think he played a good game and I didn't. I played a bad game.