Tennis News

Top seed Novak Djokovic secured a straight sets win over David Ferrer to put himself one win away from a fourth title in Rome. He beat the Spaniard 6-4, 6-4 in a contest where he struck 26 winners to close out the match in one hour and 35 minutes.

“He’s a great competitor [and] he always makes you play an extra ball,” said Djokovic. “I did face a couple of break points, especially in the second set where maybe I was a little bit fortunate. I just found the way to dig my way through and [I] just played well enough to break him in both sets when it was most needed.”

While he had to deal with a thunderous start from Stan Wawrinka, Federer was anle to weather the storm early and never looked back en route to the straight sets win. After going down 0-3 in the opening set, Federer won six of the next seven games to snatch the set before cruising through the second set to close out the match 6-4, 6-2.

“Stan played well in the first set,” said Federer. “In the second set he had a sort of breakdown. He wasn’t serving his best. I was definitely able to take advantage of it. He’s got a good opportunity next week (in Geneva). He’s in the right direction and obviously the win against Rafa was massive for him and his confidence. His game is there. I was very happy how I played. I was able to impose my game. I had a sort of breakdown too but I’ll try not to let it happen tomorrow.”

The latest chapter in the remarkable rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be written on Sunday afternoon in Rome, as the two top competitors will cross paths once again in the final of the tournament.They’ve already met twice this season and have split those meetings; Federer won the Dubai title while Djokovic lifted the Indian Wells trophy. Now they will contest a mini-rubber match to determine who will take the lead in their series this season and steal the momentum edge ahead of Roland Garros.

Russian superstar Maria Sharapova is through to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where she will contest another enthralling encounter against a player that has really come into her own in 2015: Carla Suarez Navarro. This marks the fifth time they cross paths on the WTA tour, with Sharapova leading the head to head series 3-1.

Not only did Sharapova exact revenge on Saturday afternoon against an opponent who upset her earlier this season, she regained her spot as world No. 2 ahead of the French Open in three weeks. The Russian star defeated her fellow countrywoman Daria Gavrilova in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 to secure her spot in the tournament final. Gavrilova did manage to break in the second set but Sharapova rallied back to win the following five consecutive games to close out the match in one hour and 48 minutes.

“She loves this surface. She grew up on clay. I’ve beaten her the last couple of times, but I’ve had losses against her too,” Sharapova said about the upcoming final against Carla. “I know what a difficult player she can be, and she seems like she’s playing with a lot of confidence right now, especially after her win in the semifinals today.

“She has one of the best one-handed backhands on the tour. It’s going to be a tough final.”

Sharapova will come up against Carla Suarez Navarro, who reached the final by beating Simona Halep in three sets. She won 56% of her first service points and converted nine break points to close out the match 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 29 minutes.

“Maria is very good mentally,” Suárez Navarro said. “She plays aggressive in the important moments, and serves really well in the important moments. She focuses so well, which is really important.”

This marks the fifth time that these two competitors meet on the professional tour, with Sharapova leading the series 3-1. Her sole loss against the Spaniard was at the Rogers Cup last year in Montreal, where Sharapova lost to Navarro in three sets. This is set to be their first ever meeting on clay.