Rafael Nadal, 2017 French Open
Tennis - Italy Open Men's Singles Quarterfinal match - Novak Djokovic of Serbia v Rafael Nadal of Spain - Rome, Italy - 13/5/16. Nadal serves the ball. Reuters / Alessandro Bianchi

Defending champion Rafael Nadal is just one win away from an unprecedented 10th Monte Carlo Masters championship. The 14-time Grand Slam champion will square off against fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in Sunday's final. Nadal is seeking his first ATP Masters 1000 title of the season after two finals losses to Roger Federer at the Australian Open and Miami Open.

For Nadal, victory at Monte Carlo could prove to be a confidence-booster ahead of the French Open (May 22-June 11). After the tournament in Monaco, Nadal will participate in the rest of the clay-court season which includes the Barcelona Open (April 24-30), Madrid Open (May 7-14) and the Italian Open (May 14-21). The tournaments should help prepare Nadal for a potential 10th Roland Gaross championship in June. After his heartbreaking five-set defeat to Federer at the Australian Open final, Nadal vowed to bounce back and make his presence felt during the remainder of the three Grand Slam events this year.

Rafael Nadal begins road to French Open 2017

The 30-year-old Nadal is hailed "The King of Clay" for a reason. Besides winning 49 out of his 69 career ATP titles on clay courts, Nadal has suffered just one loss at Monte Carlo, to Novak Djokovic in 2013. The Spaniard is seeking his first ATP World Tour title since Apr. 2016 when he beat Kei Nishikori in the finals at Barcelona. Nadal will enter his 58th career clay court finals with an astonishing record of 49-8.

"I'm very, very excited. I'm very happy because this is a very important event for me and it's my first tournament on clay so it's great to be able to play in the final again. Albert is playing really well. He beat Andy, Marin Cilic and today again, so he's a top player on clay. It will be a very tough final so I must play my best," Nadal was quoted as saying by Sky Sports ahead of Sunday's final.

Ramos-Vinolas is entering the final on the back of consecutive victories over Top-10 players. The Spaniard defeated World No. 1 Andy Murray in the third round and World No. 8 Marin Cilic in the quarter-final. Prior to the tournament, the 29-year-old had a 3-26 career record against Top-10 players. The World No. 24 is now trying to become the first player outside of the Top-20 to win an ATP Masters 1000 title since Ivan Ljubicic beat American Andy Roddick at Indian Wells in 2010.

"I'm really happy, as you can imagine. On Monday I was not expecting such a week, I don't know why it's happening now. We were both nervous at the start but in the second set it was a good match. Then he seemed tired and I was feeling fresh, physically and mentally, maybe that's why I won," said 15th seeded Ramos-Vinolas about his finals showdown against Nadal. Rafael Nadal vs Albert Ramos-Vinolas live streaming, Monte Carlo Masters live streaming and Tennis live streaming info follows.

Rafael Nadal vs Albert Ramos-Vinolas live stream: Watch Monte Carlo Masters final online

Date: Sunday, April 23, 2017
Start Time: 8:30 a.m. (ET), 10:30 p.m. (AEST), 12:30 p.m. (GMT)
On TV: Tennis Channel (USA), ESPN (Australia), Sky Sports (UK)
Live Stream: WatchESPN (USA), WatchESPN (Australia), Tennis Channel (Global)