Rafael Nadal moves into the finals of the 2015 Stuttgart Open

Rafale Nadal reacts after beating Gael Monfils in the semifinals of the Stuttgart Open

World No.10 Rafael Nadal progressed through to the final of the 2015 Stuttgart Open after beating Gael Monfils of France 6-3 6-4 in the semifinals on Saturday. The 29-year-old Mallorcan converted two of his six break points and saved the other four to overcome the 4th seed Monfils in 79 minutes.

Nadal will now face Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the summit clash, an opponent against whom he has a 4-0 head-to-head record. If the 14-time Grand Slam champion beats Troicki in the final, then he'll become the first man to win the competition on both clay and grass courts. Nadal has won this tournament twice before in 2005 and 2007.

Talking about his win over Monfils, the Spaniard said that he felt great to have the finals of a grass court tournament for the first time since 2011 and added that he was feeling good about his game.

“It’s a great feeling to be back in a final, especially on grass. It’s been since 2011, I didn’t play a final on grass. So it’s very good to be back and I think I’m playing well. It was a tough match, but I played well against a very difficult opponent,” he said.

"The victories are energy. I am enjoying practicing, I’m enjoying playing on court with all my game, which is something I missed a lot in the first half of the season,” he added.

The two-time Wimbledon champion also said that he was feeling a lot more relaxed and was hopeful of having a much better second half of the tennis season.

"I feel I’m doing things better on court, playing more relaxed, enjoying a little bit more. And that’s the thing I need to do to have success in the game: work hard and be relaxed. That is what I’m doing and I hope to have a good second half of the season,” he concluded.

Bopanna-Mergea enter finals

Not only was there good news coming in for Nadal fans from Stuttgart, but Indian tennis fans also had reasons to cheer about as the Indo-Romanian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea advanced to the Men’s Doubles final with a 6-3 6-7 10-7 win over Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic in the semis.