( CNN ) -- World No . 1 Rafael Nadal will face compatriot David Ferrer in Sunday 's final as he seeks a remarkable seventh successive title at the Monte Carlo Masters clay-court event . The Spaniard had to battle for almost three hours before overcoming third seed Andy Murray , whose hopes of a first win on the surface against Nadal were ultimately hampered by an elbow injury . Nadal finally triumphed 6-4 2-6 6-1 to set up a clash with Ferrer , who reached his first final in the principality with a 6-3 6-2 win over Roger Federer 's conqueror Jurgen Melzer in Saturday 's opening semifinal . Murray 's participation was in doubt before the first serve as he needed a pre-match injection , and he required lengthy treatment in the deciding set at 3-0 down -- having been denied it after the previous game due to tournament rules . He told reporters that he will have a scan on Sunday to determine the extent of the injury . Can Murray become a grand slam champion ? The British player has restored his confidence in this tournament , coming into it on a four-match losing streak after early exits in Miami , Indian Wells and Rotterdam following his Australian Open final defeat by Novak Djokovic . The world No . 4 had lost both previous clay clashes with Nadal and was seeking to redress a 4-9 career record against a player whose only defeat in Monte Carlo came in his first appearance in 2003 . `` It 's good to know you 're able to play at a similar level to what he does on the clay . To win against him , you need to be able to do that for three and a half hours , four hours . He 's the best player in the world for a reason , '' Murray said . `` It 's good to be close to him , but I want to try to play better than that . I 'll need to , if I want to beat him , because he 's going to improve the next few weeks the more he plays on clay . '' Nadal , the first man to win an ATP Tour event six times in a row , is seeking to extend his record of Masters Series titles to 19 following hard-court final defeats in Miami and Indian Wells by Djokovic -- who missed this tournament due to injury . He bounced back after dropping an early service game and won four in a row before Murray leveled at 4-4 . Nadal held to take the lead and then broke Murray as the 23-year-old conceded the set with a backhand error . The Scot bounced back well , hitting 13 winners to Nadal 's three as he won the second set , but he could not maintain that momentum in the decider . It was only the sixth time Nadal had lost a set in 39 matches at the tournament . Fourth seed Ferrer lost to Nadal in the semifinals last year before being beaten again by him in the final of the Rome Masters . The 29-year-old , a semifinalist in Melbourne in January , reached his third final of 2010 having won on clay in Mexico 's Acapulco and on hard-court at Auckland , New Zealand . Ninth-ranked Melzer was playing in his first Masters Series semifinal , having become the first Austrian to reach the last-four stage in Monte Carlo since clay-court legend Thomas Muster 15 years ago . Is Sharapova back as a real contender ? Meanwhile , women 's Fed Cup champions Italy face an uphill battle to reach this year 's final after losing both rubbers on the opening day of the semi against Russia in Moscow . World No . 3 Vera Zvonareva thrashed Sara Errani 6-0 6-2 in Saturday 's first singles match , then two-time grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova battled past Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-7 ( 4-7 ) 6-1 . Zvonareva , making her first appearance in the teams competition since helping Russia to a fourth title in 2008 , can clinch victory in the best-of-five tie by beating Vinci in Sunday 's opening reverse singles tie . Italy have won it the past two years , but went into this match without top-ranked players Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta . The other semifinal between Belgium and the Czech Republic was level at 1-1 in Charleroi . The home team were without injured world No . 2 Kim Clijsters , and her replacement -- the 106th-ranked Kirsten Flipkens -- lost 6-2 7-6 ( 7-4 ) to No . 18 Petra Kvitova in the opening match . The Belgians , beaten by Italy in the 2006 final and winners for the first time in 2001 , drew level when world No . 23 Yanina Wickmayer triumphed 6-4 6-4 against Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova .
Rafael goes through to seventh consecutive Monte Carlo title match . No . 1 is looking to bounce back after two Masters Series final defeats in the U.S . He will face fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in Sunday 's final , having beaten Andy Murray . Fed Cup champions Italy lost 2 - 0 to Russia in final of men 's teams event .