World number two Rafael Nadal moved smoothly into the final of the Stuttgart Cup with a comfortable 6-1 7-5 victory over Spanish compatriot Feliciano Lopez on Saturday.
The French Open champion had problems with his right knee earlier in the week and was again wearing strapping but showed no signs of discomfort as he saw off his close friend, the world number 84, in one hour and 25 minutes.
Lopez was unable to carve out a single break point and Nadal, the top seed, won 41 of 52 points on his serve. Winner in Stuttgart in 2005, the Majorcan sealed the match on his third match point with a fifth ace.
"The first set went very well but I had to try much harder in the second as he really stepped up his game," Nadal said in a television interview. "My serve was very consistent today and that was the key," he added. He will play either Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina or Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka on Sunday in the decider, his 16th successive final on clay.
Nadal is competing in his first tournament since losing the final at Wimbledon to world number one Roger Federer earlier this month. He has already won five ATP titles this year and improves his win-loss record to 55-8 with Saturday's victory.
Nadal has now won 92 of his 93 matches on clay since April 2005. His only defeat was against Federer at the Hamburg Masters in May. Chela and Wawrinka play later on Saturday.