Tennis News

The top player on the ATP World Tour took the week off in Madrid, a decision that will allow him to be a significant force in Rome. Novak Djokovic will begin his campaign against Nicolas Almagro, whom he has faced on three previous occasions on the professional circuit. The Serb leads the head-to-head series 3-0.

Djokovic, who already has a clay court Masters 1000 title to his name this season, has a 30-2 record so far this season and appears to be near-unstoppable on the tour. Most recently at the Monte Carlo event, Djokovic overcame a determined Tomas Berdych in three sets to lift his third Masters 1000 title of the season. He won the match 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in a contest that was interrupted by a rain delay midway through the second set. Djokovic eventually won the match in two hours and 43 minutes to extend his winning streak to 17 consecutive matches.

“I want to build a platform to get off and perform well,” Djokovic admitted at the Foro Italico Saturday. “At this level you need freshness of mind and also fresh legs in order to perform well to overcome the challenges of long and exhausting matches on this surface. I hope my decision to skip Madrid will positively effect this week and Roland Garros. We’ll see.

“I have done things in the right way over the past couple of weeks. My whole team is here – both coaches – so we are taking it really seriously and we hope to have a good result.”

Spain’s Nicolas Almagro began his week in Rome with a straight sets victory against Italy’s Luca Vanni. He struck seven aces, won 88% of his first service points and saved all three of the break points he faced en route to a 6-4, 6-3 win in one hour and 18 minutes.

This marks the first time in three years that Djokovic and Almagro will meet on the professional tour. Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 3-0, including a clay court victory at this event seven years ago.

Following an exceptional start to his clay court season this year, which includes an undefeated streak with two title wins, Andy Murray will look to carry this momentum forward in his final warm-up event ahead of the French Open. He will begin his Rome campaign against Jeremy Chardy, whom he holds a 5-1 lead over in the head-to-head series.

The world No. 3 maintained his undefeated clay court streak when he defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets to lift the Mutua Madrid Open title on Sunday. It was Murray’s second win at this event but his first since the tournament moved to clay. Following a solid opening set of tennis, Murray stunned the all-Spanish pro-Rafa crowd by breaking for a 4-0 lead in the second set. From there, he finished the match 6-3,6-2 for his first win against Nadal on clay.

“I think I wasn’t expecting this a couple of weeks ago, so when things are unexpected, it feels nicer,” admitted Murray. “I didn’t feel like I put too much pressure on myself the past couple of weeks, which is a good thing

It is difficult to determine the outcome of this particular contest. On one hand, Murray’s recent streak is a positive sign for his French Open goals, yet he may also be worn out following two action-packed weeks on the tour. He leads Chardy 5-1 and should have little trouble advancing, yet he may need three sets to get the job done this time around.

Jeremy Chardy denied a potentially dramatic rematch between Murray and Lukas Rosol when he defeated the Czech No. 2 in straight sets 7-6,6-4 to advance to the second round of the tournament. He struck 10 aces, won 78% of his first service points and saved the only break point he faced to close out the match in one hour and 37 minutes.

Maria Sharapova will attempt to right the wrongs that have occurred in her pre-French Open warm-up title defenses this season when she begins her Rome campaign on Tuesday afternoon against Jarmila Gajdosova. This marks the first time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour.

Following her surprise exit at the start of the Stuttgart Open this year, a tournament where she was the defending champion, Sharapova was ousted in the semi-final round in Madrid at the hands of Svetlana Kuznetsova. It was a surprising defeat given that she had beaten Caroline Garcia and Caroline Wozniacki to reach that stage of the tournament.

Given that she is coming off a recent injury, Sharapova is confident she will get back on the horse soon:

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“Yeah, I think about ten days ago I think I started from somewhere around zero. I’ve come to a good stage; not the best one. It’s been a while. I was just thinking it’s been a while since I played five matches in six days. I think it was back in January. So it’s great to be back in that position, but it takes a lot more to continue that. I have to build on that. I have to build being able to step up every day, because it doesn’t get easier. It gets tougher.”

Jarmila Gajdosova reached the second round in Rome with a three-set victory against Elena Vesnina. She struck eight aces, won 66% of her first service points and converted six break points to win the match 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(14) in two hours and nine minutes. It was an impressive win for the Slovakian native, as she rallied from a set down and fought through an incredibly tight third set tiebreak to get the job done in the end.

This marks the first time that Sharapova and Gajdosova will cross paths on the professional tour and it is likely a contest that will favour Sharapova, as she works her way back to top form.

In one of the more surprising finals in recent memory, Andy Murray defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets to lift the Mutua Madrid Open title on Sunday. It was Murray’s second win at this event but his first since the tournament moved to clay.

Murray stormed to a 3-0 start against Nadal and looked the sharper of the two competitors. While the Spaniard woke up shortly thereafter, he was unable to regain the break and dropped the opening set. Murray then added to his momentum by breaking for an early 2-0 lead in the second set before he stunned the crowd by breaking again for a 4-0 lead. From there, he finished the match 6-3,6-2 for his first win against Nadal on clay.

“I think I wasn’t expecting this a couple of weeks ago, so when things are unexpected, it feels nicer,” admitted Murray. “I didn’t feel like I put too much pressure on myself the past couple of weeks, which is a good thing.

“Obviously to win a Masters 1000 on clay for me is a step in the right direction. It’s something I had never done before. So that’s good progress there. To win against Rafa on clay in a final in Spain is an extremely difficult thing to do, and I’m proud that I’ve managed to do that.”

Nadal, who commit far too many unforced errors for comfort, dropped to 8-3 on clay this season and has also dropped outside of the Top 5 for the first time since 2005.

“I’ve played a couple good matches [this week], especially yesterday’s match,” said Nadal. “It’s one of the best matches I have played in a long time. So I cannot leave Madrid not happy. I have leave happy and just delete what happened today. I will just stay with the good things that happened this week, and there are a lot of them, more good than bad. I will try to recover in Rome the feelings. I think I’ve made a step forward and I’m playing better. My game is better.”

Murray and Nadal are both scheduled to compete in the Rome Masters this week.

With the French Open just 2 weeks away, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia provides the final opportunities for the top players to tune up their game. It is also notable for the fact that if Rafael Nadal doesn’t win this event, it will be the first time he has failed to win a clay Masters 1000 event since 2004 – a year in which he did not compete in any of them. Nadal is a seven time winner in Rome and has made the last six finals.

Novak Djokovic returns after missing Madrid and has to remain the favourite on his form and Nadal’s continued struggles. Last year, he picked up his third Rome title with a three set win over Nadal. He begins his title defence against Nicolas Almagro, who saw off the threat of wildcard Luca Vanni in round one. He is 3-1 against Almagro, with the sole win for the Spaniard coming in a 2004 Challenger match.

In their fourth career meeting (first in ATP main draw), Roberto Bautista Agut will hope to get the better of his countryman Marcel Granollers. Bautista Agut was defeated by Kei Nishikori for the second time in three tournaments in Madrid last week, making each of his last four losses be to a top 10 player. The winner faces a qualifier – either Thomaz Bellucci or Diego Schwartzman. Bellucci qualified without dropping a set while Schwartzman needed 3 to see off Benoit Paire.

Australian tennis continues to rise with two players now in the top 35 and they could meet in round two. Nick Kyrgios stunned Roger Federer in Madrid but was unable to follow up his victory in the next round, losing to John Isner. He will have to pull off another surprise win by defeating 11th seed Feliciano Lopez. The Spaniard is in far from great form, going 3-4 since Miami. Bernard Tomic, now ranked 26, plays Viktor Troicki for the first time on clay. Tomic does lead the head to head 2-1 but all three matches were on hard courts. Kei Nishikori rounds off the first quarter of the draw. He failed to defend his final points in Madrid, losing in the semi finals to eventual winner Andy Murray. Nishikori, 29-6 on the year, will play Jiri Vesely after the Czech overcame Ernests Gulbis in three sets on Sunday. A quarter final clash with Djokovic offers a lot of intrigue and will give a further idea of Nishikori’s French Open credentials.

Andy Murray‘s stunning run to the Madrid title made it two clay titles in two weeks after failing to win one in his career previously. Although Nadal was far from his best in the final, three top 10 wins in the week suggest that Murray could be more than easy pickings for the best in Paris. He opens against Jeremy Chardy, who beat Lukas Rosol in straights in round one. Another Frenchman could be on the cards in round three if Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can live up to his 13th seeding position. Tsonga is 0-2 against the top 10 this year but will be confident going into round two if he sees off Sam Querrey. The Frenchman already has a win over likely opponent David Goffin at Monte Carlo this year.

David Ferrer has lived up to his seeding in the past two Masters events in Madrid and Monte Carlo by making the quarter finals but was defeated at this stage both times, to Nishikori and Nadal respectively. This time round, Andy Murray is the projected quarter finalist if seedings hold. While he is 6-9 against Murray, Ferrer does lead 4-0 on the head to head, most recently winning at the 2012 French Open in 4 sets. Richard Gasquet plays Thomas Fabbiano for the opportunity to play Ferrer and reverse an ugly 3-8 head to head. Ninth seed Marin Cilic is still finding his feet on the year, hoping to turn around his current 3-4 record in 2015. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is first up for the Croatian with either Alexandr Dolgopolov or Martin Klizan waiting in round two. Cilic is 3-0 against Klizan while going 1-1 against Dolgopolov.

By virtue of being drawn in the opposite half of the draw to Djokovic, Rafael Nadal will have a much better chance of making his seventh straight final at this event. It’s a route that doesn’t look too troubling, even with Nadal not at 100% of his ability. 16th seed John Isner did take Nadal to three sets in Monte Carlo but it will be a tough ask to do that again even with Isner playing good tennis at this moment in time. Isner will still most likely have to beat Leonardo Mayer to get there, after the Argentinian defeated Federico Gaio in round one on Sunday.

Stanislas Wawrinka, the other top 8 seed in this quarter, could do with a good run after failing to make it past the last sixteen in his last four tournaments. He may well do that this time round, but defeating Nadal will still remain a tough ask with their lopsided head to head. Wawrinka will open against Juan Monaco or Dusan Lajovic while Gilles Simon will play Jack Sock in his first match of the tournament. Dominic Thiem will hope to return to form when he faces Simone Bolelli in round one. The highly touted Austrian has seen a number of shock defeats in the past month, while also losing just three games to Fabio Fognini in Munich in the same time period.

Likely semi final opponents for Nadal in the case that he gets there include Federer and Tomas Berdych. It was thought that Berdych might trouble Nadal in Madrid but it was never all that close, Nadal winning 76 61. All of Berdych’s defeats this year have come to top 10 players, including the Monte Carlo final which he lost in three sets. Despite a surprise win over Santiago Giraldo in round one, wildcard Matteo Donati is unlikely to be much of a threat to the Czech. A third round clash intrigues with most likely Grigor Dimitrov, although Fabio Fognini and perhaps Jerzy Janowicz will have something to say about that as they compete for a place in the third round. Berdych lost to Dimitrov at this event last year, a week after beating him in Madrid.

After losing from match point up to Nick Kyrgios in Madrid, Roger Federer will be out to ensure it doesn’t happen again in Rome. He may play an opponent whom he already has a win over this year in Pablo Cuevas. The Uruguayan lost in straight sets but will relish the opportunity for another crack and should beat Paolo Lorenzi in round one and extend the head to head to 4-0 over the wildcard. A big serving Kevin Anderson seems the most logical option for an early Federer shock but in reality, it seems very unlikely that the South African could win in a possible third meeting. Anderson needed two tiebreaks to defeat Florian Mayer in three sets and will likely play another German in round two, with Philipp Kohlschreiber taking on Donald Young for a spot in the second round.