Tennis News

For the first time this season, the Swiss stars Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will cross paths on the professional tour, this time to determine who will advance to the final of the Rome Masters 100 event. Federer leads the overall head to head series 15-2.

With little fuss, Roger Federer found himself in the semi-final stage in Rome following a straight sets victory against Tomas Berdych. Federer hit 15 winners to close out the match 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 7 minutes of court time.

“From the baseline I was playing very well,” said Federer. “My serve was not quite there in the beginning. I had to go through too many second serves and he was able to take advantage of that and break early. For me, it was important to pick it up on the serve, which is maybe the easiest thing to do.

“I felt good again on the return, moving well. As it went on, I think I got into the match better and better. The wind picked up in the second set. That’s why I think Tomas didn’t play so well anymore and I was able to get the job done. So I’m very pleased how the match went.”

In one of the more surprising matches on court this past Friday, Stan Wawrinka produced one of his best matches of the season to hand Nadal his fifth loss on clay this season. It was a match-up that Wawrinka closed out in straight sets 7-6(7), 6-2. He won 59% of his first service points and stuck 25 winners to close out his first win against Nadal on clay in two hours and five minutes. The story of the match was the Swiss No. 2’s volley’s, as he came to the net 28 times and used it as a marvelous strategy to not only mount a comeback from 2-6 down in the first set tiebreak, but use it to propel himself to match point shortly thereafter.

This marks the 18th time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Federer leading the head-to-head series 15-2. Federer won their most recent encounter en route to the World Tour Finals last season but also lost their most recent clay court encounter at last year’s Monte Carlo final. It will be interesting to see if Stan, who is coming off one of his best clay court wins to date, can carry that momentum forward.

Following a pair of impressive matches on Friday, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer will cross paths for a 20th time on the ATP World Tour to determine who will advance to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 14-5, including wins in their last eight consecutive meetings dating back to 2011.

The top seed at this year’s Rome Masters continued to struggle and plod his way through the draw, this time with yet another three set encounter against Kei Nishikori. While Djokovic began the match in top form, he was unable to maintain that momentum and dropped the second set before recovering to close out the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Djokovic hit three aces, won 84% of his first service points and converted three break points to win the match in one hour and 48 minutes to extend his record at this event to 32-5.

In a match that required three sets to be completed, David Ferrer defeated David Goffin to reach the semi-final round of the Rome Masters 1000 event. He struck six aces, won 72% of his first service points and converted five break points to close out the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in two hours and nine minutes. He will now go on to face Djokovic for a place in the final.

Considering Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 14-5, there should be little doubt that he will control the contest en route to the final round of the tournament. While Ferrer is coming off a strong week, he is unlikely to be able to stop the Serbian star, as he has not managed that feat since 2011. He is 0-8 in their last eight meetings on the tour. However, Ferrer holds a 3-2 lead on clay, even though he lost their two most recent meetings on that surface, including a loss at this very event last year.

Following an impressive on-court display from both ladies, Simona Halep and Carla Suarez Navarro will meet to determine who will advance to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Saturday. This is a close and competitive series, as Halep leads the head-to-head series 5-4. However, Navarro has won all four of their clay court encounters.

Seeded second at this year’s tournament, Simona Halep reached the semi-final stage of the Rome Open when she defeated Alexandra Dulgheru in straight sets to secure her spot. It was a dominant showing on court, as Halep defeated her opponent 6-1, 6-0 in four minutes under an hour of court time. Through three matches this week, Halep has dropped just seven games in total, which is quite a remarkable stat.

“Today it was a pretty good match, I was very solid,” Halep said. “She was tired as well because she had many long matches before today, so I had an advantage over her.

“It’s not easy to play against one Romanian, but during the match you forget against who you play, just go on court and do your job.”

In an exceptionally impressive performance on Friday afternoon, Carla Suarez Navarro toppled fourth seed Petra Kvitova in straight sets to upset her way into the tournament final. She won 74% of her first service points, saved five break points and converted five of her own to close out the match 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 13 minutes.

This marks the tenth time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour. Halep leads the head-to-head series 5-4 but it should also be noted that all four of her losses to the Spaniard were on clay. Given Navarro’s remarkable showing on Friday against Kvitova, it is very likely that she will find her way into the tournament final.