FABIO FOGNINI ended Rafael Nadal’s winning streak at the Monte Carlo Masters, stunning the defending champion 6-4, 6-2 Saturday to reach the final for the first time and hand Nadal his first defeat in Monte Carlo since a loss to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 semifinals.

Fognini had beaten Nadal twice before on clay, and also once at the U.S. Open in five sets, but this was arguably the most impressive.

“I have the game to play against him,” the 13th-seeded Fognini said. “I had nothing to lose.”

He wasn’t concerned if Nadal was out of form.

“That’s not the question that I have to answer,” Fognini said. “I just say that I played an incredible match.”

Still, the second-ranked Nadal called it “one of my worst matches in 14 years” and the 32-year-old Spaniard said it was “difficult to find an explanation” for capitulating on his favored clay-court surface.

Yet the defeat could have been even more humiliating for Nadal, who had not lost a set here by 6-0 since the 2005 final — which he went on to win for the first of his record 11 titles.

Fognini came so close to drubbing him in the second set. He served for the match at 5-0 and 40-0, but Nadal saved three match points, broke back and held.

“I was lucky to win the two games,” said Nadal, who had not even lost a set here since conceding one in the second round against Britain’s Kyle Edmund in 2017.

Serving again for the match at 5-2, Fognini hit a superb forehand down the line on his fourth match point.

He next plays unseeded Serb Dusan Lajovic in their first-ever meeting, and one few would have predicted.

Fognini trailed by a set and 4-1 down during his first-round match against Andrey Rublev.

“If you told me at the beginning of the week ‘See you on Sunday,’ I would laugh in your face,” Fognini said.

Nadal had dropped his first three service games Friday in his quarterfinal against Guido Pella, and the early signs were not good this time.

His first game against Fognini lasted 12 minutes, with Nadal saving four break points before conceding the first of six breaks of serve in the match.

(SD-Agencies)