Nadal reaches Miami final

Rafael Nadal stayed on course for his first title of the season by reaching the final of the Sony Ericsson Open with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 victory over Tomas Berdych this evening.

The Spanish second seed has shown patchy form this year but reached the semi-finals in Indian Wells two weeks ago and proved too strong for Czech 22-year-old Berdych in Miami.

Nadal earned the first break of the match to lead 5-3 but Berdych broke straight back and took the first set to a tie-break.

The 2005 finalist again looked in control at 6-3 but 10th seed Berdych saved three set points before Nadal finally clinched it 8-6.

The Majorcan then went from strength to strength in the second set with two breaks of serve enough to seal his passage to the final.

Nadal will hope to put in an improved performance from his only other final appearance this season, when he lost 6-0 6-1 to Mikhail Youzhny in Chennai in January.