(Reuters) - Rafa Nadal reached his first grasscourt final in four years after beating Gael Monfils 6-3 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Stuttgart International on Saturday.
Nadal will face either Serbia's Viktor Troicki or Croatia's Marin Cilic in the final of his first tournament since a disappointing claycourt campaign ended with a French Open quarter-final defeat by Novak Djokovic.
Nadal, whose last grasscourt final came at Wimbledon in 2011, has dropped to 10th in the ATP rankings after a difficult year in which he has won only a single title.
The twice Wimbledon champion looked sharp against Monfils, however, easing past the Frenchman, who failed to convert any of his four break-point opportunities, in only 79 minutes.