Rafael Nadal believes Grigor Dimitrov will be a future top-10 player after being pushed all the way by the brilliant Bulgarian.
Eight-time defending champion Nadal extended his run in the Monte Carlos Masters to 45 successive victories and progressed into the semi-finals of the tournament, but he had it far from easy before winning his quarter-final clash against Dimitrov 6-2 2-6 6-4.
Dimitrov, 21, has risen to number 34 in the world on the back of a strong start to 2013 and he showed enough on Court Central to suggest he is starting to fulfil his oft talked-about talent.
Nadal, whose only defeat in the principality came in 2003 at the hands of Guillermo Coria, was in danger of suffering a second at 4-4 in the deciding set.
But the Spaniard re-grouped and, with Dimitrov suffering from cramp, broke before serving it out to complete a hard-fought win in two hours and eight minutes.
“I was nervous. I accepted that my opponent was playing well and I tried to find a solution to win. Finally, I was lucky. I found a solution at the right time,” said Nadal, who believes Dimitrov has a bright future ahead of his him.
“I always had that feeling (Dimitrov getting into top 10). (It) always depends on how he stays mentally, how he’s able to keep working hard and improving. But, sure, he’s a great player and he has all the shots,” Nadal said on atpworldtour.com.
“He has everything to be a really, really good player. So (it) depends on him.”
Next up for Nadal is a semi-final clash with home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who edged Stanislas Wawrinka in three sets.
Wawrinka thrashed second seed Andy Murray on Thursday and started well but was unable to sustain it as Tsonga hit back to win 2-6 6-3 6-4.
The other semi-final will see world number one Novak Djokovic face Fabio Fognini.
Djokovic, runner-up here to Nadal in 2009 and again last year, needed just 77 minutes to see off Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-4 6-3 in his quarter-final clash.
“It was great,” said Djokovic, who has been battling back from an ankle injury suffered on Davis Cup duty with Serbia recently.
“That’s a big step forward for me today [Friday] compared to the first two matches in every sense. I finally got a great feel on the clay. Hopefully I can maintain that level tomorrow [Saturday].”
His opponent Fognini became the first Italian to reach the last four in Monte Carlo since Andrea Gaudenzi in 1995 after downing world number nine Richard Gasquet of France 7-6 (7/0) 6-2.
A delighted Fornini, 25, said: “This is one of the best performances ever for me. It’s my first semi-final at a Masters 1000.”