Defending Rome champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic continued to roll though the draw at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with a third consecutive straight-sets win on Friday. The third-seeded Croatians advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over newly crowned Madrid champions Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski.

Mektic and Pavic converted on both of their break points and saved all five against them to advance to their third ATP Tour semi-final of the season. While serving out the match, the Croatians escaped 30/40 to complete an efficient performance on Court 1 at the Foro Italico. They served five aces and won 81 per cent (29/36) of their first-serve points in the contest.

Why hit the smash when you can hit the behind the back lob winner anyway 🤷‍♂️

Insane skills from @NMektic!@InteBNLdItalia #ibi22 pic.twitter.com/4gKQImKFli

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 13, 2022

Koolhof and Skupski lead the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Team Rankings for 2022 with four titles on the season, while Mektic and Pavic are 14th in the doubles race as they seek their first title since winning Tokyo Olympic gold.

The Croatians won both of their previous tour-level semi-finals this season, in Dubai and Belgrade, but fell agonisingly short of both titles in a pair of Match Tie-breaks. In the Rome semis, they will face Italians Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, who beat eighth seeds Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz, 6-7(3), 6-4, 11-9, on Friday.

In the lone doubles contest of the day to be extended to a Match Tie-break, the home favourites battled back from a set and a break down to delight the Italian crowd on Court 1. They won four straight games from 2-4 in the second and twice clawed back a mini-break in the Match Tie-break to advance to their fourth semi-final as a team this year.

The 2015 Australian Open champions are seeking their fifth tour-level title together and second of the season (Rio de Janeiro).

Into the semis a casa 🇮🇹

Sound ON as @BolelliSimone & @fabiofogna complete a 6-7(3) 6-4 11-9 win over Krawietz/Mies in Rome – to the tune of Seven Nation Army!#IBI22 pic.twitter.com/t3B0Vx4DCZ

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 13, 2022

The opposite semi-final will feature a pair of unseeded teams as John Isner and Diego Schwartzman take on Andrey Golubev and Maximo Gonzalez. The first-time pairing of Isner and Schwartzman ended the feel-good run of alternates Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara with a 6-3, 6-2 quarter-final victory. The Kazakh-Argentine duo of Golunev and Gonzalez defeated Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar, 6-2, 7-6(10), to reach the last four.

Both men’s doubles semi-finals are scheduled for the evening in Rome. Mektic/Pavic and Bolelli/Fognini will close play on Centre Court, while Isner/Schwartzman and Golubev/Gonzalez will play not before 5 p.m. local time on Pietrangeli.

Casper Ruud advanced to his first European clay-court semi-final of the season Friday, downing Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6(7), 7-5 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The Norwegian arrived in Rome off the back of disappointing early exits at ATP Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo and Madrid. However, the fifth seed has regained his best level in the Italian capital, with his high-intensity and all-action win against Shapovalov setting up a last-four meeting with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic or Felix Auger-Aliassime.

In a tight match on centre court, Ruud saved one set point in the first-set tie-break at 5/6 and then another on serve at 4-5 in the second set before he eventually moved past World No. 16 Shapovalov in two hours and 19 minutes.

”I think one of the most important things on clay is to put a lot of first serves in. Today was working well,” Ruud said. “I was serving well all match. At the beginning you are sometimes a bit nervous and excited to start, but after that I was able to calm down and find my tempo.”

It is the second time the 23-year-old has advanced to the semi-finals in Rome after he enjoyed a run to the same stage in his previous appearance in 2020.

Ruud, who reached the last eight on clay in Barcelona and Munich in April, now leads the 13th seed 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, having defeated Shapovalov in the Geneva championship match last season.

Ruud lifted the trophy in Buenos Aires in February and is aiming to win his eighth tour-level title this week but first ATP Masters 1000 crown. The World No. 10 reached the final in Miami earlier this season.

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In a tight opening set, Shapovalov had great success when moving forward, winning 9/11 points at the net as he put Ruud under pressure. However, the fifth seed, who hit 10 winners in the set, stuck to his task and received a huge slice of luck with a net cord at 7/7 in the tie-break, which gave him his second set point.

Ruud took full advantage on serve to lead before he continued to play the more consistent tennis in the second set. He saved one set point on serve at 4-5 and then converted on his ninth break point in a mammoth 14-minute game to move 6-5 ahead. Ruud then held his nerve to serve out for victory.

“You always feel the nerves a little bit extra on break points, especially against a big server such as Shapo,” Ruud said. “It is not easy to get a break against him, so you need to take the chances you have and the one I got was enough to seal the second set.”

Shapovalov upset Rafael Nadal en route to last eight, where he was trying to maintain his perfect Masters 1000 quarter-final record, having come into Friday’s clash at 5-0 at that stage.

Stefanos Tsitsipas stood up and delivered Friday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, overcoming Italian Jannik Sinner and a raucous home crowd to reach the semi-finals in Rome for the second time.

In front of vocal fans on centre court, the Greek kept his composure as he demonstrated great footwork to dictate with his forehand and move past the 20-year-old 7-6(5), 6-2 in two hours and 24 minutes.

“I am happy things turned out well. It was a great day at the office,” Tsitsipas said in his on-court interview. “I was able to really step it up in the second set and I think the most important part was that first set tie-break. I really went for it when I had to. I didn’t overthink or hesitate and that paid off in the end.”

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The fourth seed, who also advanced to the last four in 2019, consistently took the ball on the rise and drove his groundstrokes through the court as he countered Sinner’s heavy-hitting to improve to 4-1 in their ATP Head2Head series.

Tsitsipas will next meet Alexander Zverev after the German downed Cristian Garin 7-5, 6-2. It will be the third time this season that they have played in the semi-finals at a clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event, with the Greek defeating the German en route to the title in Monte Carlo, before Zverev gained revenge in Madrid last week.

“We have similar game styles but he is one of the most difficult players to play against on the Tour,” Tsitsipas said when looking ahead to his match against Zverev. “I have a lot of respect for him. He has achieved a lot so far and I try and look up to him with the things he has achieved.”

The 23-year-old, who saved two match points to defeat Grigor Dimitrov in his opening clash in Rome, has now earned a tour-leading 30 wins this year and is up to No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

In an entertaining first set, Tsitsipas flew out of the blocks and into a 3-0 lead as Sinner struggled to cope with the Greek’s depth and weight of shot. However, the Italian then started to settle and produce the kind of tennis that saw him crack the Top 10 last year, finding the corners with regularity as he began to dictate more with his backhand and fight back.

With nothing separating them, a tie-break was left to decide the opener and it was Tsitsipas who raised his level from 5/5, swatting away two forehand volleys to clinch the set in 86 minutes.

Tsitsipas continued to apply the pressure at the start of the second set, breaking immediately as Sinner started to struggle physically. The Greek was solid on serve, consistent off the ground and successfully dealt with Sinner’s drop shots to triumph.

The 10th seed was competing in his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final after beating Pedro Martinez, countryman Fabio Fognini and Filip Krajinovic earlier this week. The 20-year-old was aiming to earn his second Top 10 win of the season, having defeated then-World No. 8 Andrey Rublev en route to the last eight in Monte Carlo.

Alexander Zverev continued the quest for his first title of the season Friday, overcoming Cristian Garin 7-5, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the third time.

In a commanding performance on Grand Stand Arena, the World No. 3 fired his flat groundstrokes through the court as he struck 24 winners and broke the Chilean four times to advance after one hour and 51 minutes.

“It was a high-level match. At times it wasn’t pretty tennis, but I got the job done and that is the most important thing,” Zverev said in his on-court interview. “I am through to the semi-finals and I am happy about that.”

With his victory, Zverev has now levelled his ATP Head2Head series with Garin at 1-1, gaining revenge for his defeat to the World No. 45 on clay in Munich in 2019. The German will next play Monte Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas or Italian Jannik Sinner in the last four.

The second seed, who defeated Novak Djokovic to capture the trophy in Rome in 2017, has won seven of his past eight matches after he reached the final at the Mutua Madrid Open last week. The 2021 Nitto ATP Finals winner is yet to drop a set in Rome.

By advancing to the semi-finals in the Italian capital, it means Zverev has enjoyed a run to at least the last four at the three clay-court ATP Masters 1000 events this season. The 25-year-old lost to Tsitsipas in the semi-finals in Monte Carlo in April.

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Garin was appearing in his third Masters 1000 quarter-final, having advanced to this stage in Paris in 2019 and Madrid in 2021.

The five-time tour-level titlist defeated Francesco Passaro, Emil Ruusuvuori and Marin Cilic en route to the last eight, but was unable to cope with Zverev’s ball-striking and intensity as the match went on.

Friday is quarter-final day at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, with four marquee matches set in both the men’s singles and doubles competitions. Four of the Top 5 singles seeds are still standing, led by World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, with Chile’s Cristian Garin the lone unseeded player among the last eight.

On Centre Court, fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on Jannik Sinner in an Australian Open rematch before Casper Ruud meets Denis Shapovalov and Djokovic faces Felix Auger-Aliassime. Second seed Alexander Zverev will open play against Garin on Grand Stand Arena, where the Italian doubles duo of Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini closes out the schedule against eighth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies of Germany.

View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw | View Schedule

[4] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. [10] Jannik Sinner (ITA)

Tsitsipas saved two match points in his opening win over Grigor Dimitrov and won another three-setter against Karen Khachanov on Thursday to start his bid for a second ATP Masters 1000 title of the season. His third-round win improved his season record to 29-9, surpassing Carlos Alcaraz for the ATP Tour wins lead in 2022.

Tsitsipas is 12-2 on the European clay swing, backing up his second consecutive Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters title with runs to the Barcelona quarter-finals and Madrid semis before Rome.

Sinner, who has won three matches to reach the quarter-finals, is not far behind at 24-5. The home favourite is playing in the Rome quarter-finals for the first time and will need to overturn a lopsided Aussie Open defeat to progress further.

The Greek, who will pass Rafael Nadal to claim the No. 4 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Sinner in the quarter-finals in Melbourne and holds a 3-1 record in their ATP Head2Head. The pair split two Rome meetings in 2019 and 2020, with Sinner taking the second matchup in three sets.

“Every match is a different story,” Tsitsipas said when asked about their history. “We’ve played each other on clay, but every match has its own story to tell. I know for a fact that he’s going to go out there playing free and is going to be very much motivated to do well in front of his home crowd. I’m going to have to deal with this and also deal with my tennis at the same time.

“My job is to go out there and play tennis. Of course, he has a little bit more support, which is normal. He’s going to have some things that are in in his favour. But at the end I need to play good tennis and really prove myself out on the court.”

[1] Novak Djokovic (SER) vs. [8] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)

Djokovic and Auger-Aliassime will meet for the first time on Friday, with the Serbian needing a victory to ensure his stay atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He currently sits second behind Daniil Medvedev in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, having lost the 600 points he is defending from his Rome final run one year ago. 

Auger-Aliassime, who entered Rome at a career-high of No. 9, has improved one spot in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings by reaching the quarter-finals and would reach No. 7 with the title. After grinding through a three-set win against Monte Carlo finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his opening match, the Canadian cruised past Marcos Giron in the last 16.

Djokovic has dropped just nine games in his two Rome matches, looking sharp against Aslan Karatsev and Stan Wawrinka. In addition to playing to maintain his status as World No. 1 ahead of Roland Garros, he is also two wins shy of his 1,000th career victory.

Out of the eight quarter-finalists, Auger-Aliassime scores highest at 31 per cent in the Balance of Power metric — which measures the percentage of shots played in attack — while Djokovic is a close second to Garin with a 44 per cent Steal rate, measuring how often a player wins points in which his opponent gains an attacking advantage. Ruud leads the way with a 77 per cent Conversion rate, which examines how often a player wins points from attack. The below chart, sorted by highest Balance Of Power, is based on each player’s data through the Rome quarter-finals.

Though Djokovic and Auger-Aliassime have not met in the heat of competition, the Serbian is familiar with the 21-year-old and his game.

“I have known Felix for quite a few years,” said Djokovic, who has reached at least the quarter-finals in all 16 of his Rome appearances. “He is established, a Top 10 player, so is right up there. He is as hard worker on the Tour that you see and he is a nice guy. His all-around game is improving. He is improving on clay. I know his game and what is expected.”

[5] Casper Ruud (NOR) vs. [13] Denis Shapovalov (CAN)

Ruud won his only previous ATP Head2Head meeting with Shapovalov in the 2021 Geneva final last May. The Norwegian is finding form again on the European clay as he’s bounced back from a first-round exit in Madrid with wins against Botic van de Zandschulp and Jenson Brooksby. A semi-finalist in both Monte Carlo and Madrid last season, the Norwegian had returned a modest 4-4 recrod following his surprise run to the hard-court Miami final in March.

Shapovalov battled back from a set down against an injury-hampered Rafael Nadal on Thursday, gaining a measure of revenge after missing out on two match points in a 2021 Rome defeat against the Spaniard. Shapovalov took the fight to Nadal before his injury concern became a factor midway through the second in a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory. The win was Shapovalov’s first against Nadal since his breakout 2017 result in Montreal.

He now looks to back that up by turning the tables on Ruud.

“Casper is extremely difficult,” the Canadian previewed. “I’ve only played him one time and he got the better of me. He’s an opponent with almost no weaknesses so it’s going to be another challenging match for me.”

[2] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. Cristian Garin (CHI)

In the lone men’s singles match on Grand Stand Arena, Zverev and Garin meet for the first time since the Chilean upset Zverev on home soil in the 2019 Munich quarter-finals. 

Zverev, the 2017 Rome champion, beat Sebastian Baez and Alex de Minaur in straight sets to reach the last eight. He was happy with his performance over the Australian on Thursday but said he still needs to work on his serve, which caused him problems on his run to the Madrid final last week.

Garin earned his first two Rome wins in dominant fashion but had to go the distance to knock out Marin Cilic in the last 16. The 25-year-old is a five-time ATP Tour champion, with all of his titles coming on clay. He is seeking his first trophy of 2022 after a slow start to the season that included a five-match losing streak — a run he emphatically ended with an April semi-final showing in Houston.

By reaching the Rome quarter-finals, Garin has moved up nine places to No. 36 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He reached a career-high of No. 17 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in September 2021.

Doubles Action

In addition to the Bolelli/Fognini vs. Krawietz/Mies showdown on Grand Stand Arena, three more doubles quarter-finals are set for Court 1. In the only meeting between seeded teams, the Croatian duo of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic will take on Madrid champions Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski.

And in what promises to be an entertaining battle between two unlikely quarter-finalists, the first-time pairing of John Isner and Diego Schwartzman will face the last-minute alternate duo of Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, who rushed to Rome early on Wednesday to take their place in the draw.

Rafael Nadal says that he will do everything in his power – including having his doctor on hand in Paris – to mount a competitive bid to win Roland Garros despite bowing out of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia Thursday below his best due to a chronic foot injury.

After a competitive first two sets with Denis Shapovalov, Nadal was clearly impeded in the third as Shapovalov rallied to a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory, reversing a loss to the Spaniard at the same stage in Rome last year, when the Canadian failed to convert two match points.

“I had my foot again with a lot of pain,” Nadal said in his post-match press conference. “I am a player living with an injury; it is nothing new. It’s something that is there.

“Unfortunately my day-by-day is difficult, honestly… it’s difficult for me to accept the situation sometimes. Today at half the second set, it starts and then it wasn’t playable for me… I don’t want to take away anything from Denis… Today is for him. Well done for him.”

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A 10-time champion in Rome, Nadal was playing just his second tournament since sustaining a rib injury in March during Indian Wells. Last week he fell in three sets to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in the Madrid quarter-finals and today the lefty was looking to reach his 100th quarter-final at ATP Masters 1000 level.

The 36-time Masters 1000 champion was devastated to finish another tournament suffering from injury, even though this one is a long-term known ailment.

“Since I came back, the foot has been tough,” he said. “It’s tough for me to be able to practise the proper way days in a row. So then you need to move well to compete at the highest level, something that I am not able to practise.

“The toughest thing for me today is honestly I start to feel myself play much better. I started the match playing much better. My practice was much better, the warmup, than the other day.”

With Roland Garros beginning 22 May, Nadal was asked whether his foot would allow him to mount a serious bid for a record-extending 14th title at the clay-court major.

“What can happen in the next couple of days, I don’t know. What can happen in one week, I really don’t know now,” he said.

“It’s the time to accept the situation and fight. That’s it… I don’t know if rest, I don’t know if maybe practice. But I still have a goal in one week and a couple of days. I’m going to keep dreaming about that goal.

“First thing that I need to do is to don’t have pain to practise, that’s it… It’s true that during the French Open, Roland Garros, I’m going to have my doctor there with me. That sometimes helps because you can do things.

“In the positive days and in the negative days, you need to stay and to value all the things that happened to me in a positive way. Then days like today, just accept and try to keep going even if sometimes it’s not easy for me.”

Nadal began the year by winning three consecutive titles, including a record-breaking 21st major at the Australian Open. He is hoping to move two majors clear of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic after Paris this year. But Djokovic will be attempting to join the Spaniard as a holder of 21 Slams.

Denis Shapovalov had Rafael Nadal on the brink one year ago at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, creating two match points before losing in a third-set tie-break. It was the Canadian who engineered a comeback on Thursday in Rome, scoring his second win over an ailing Nadal with a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

The 13th seed advances to his sixth ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, denying the Spaniard a landmark 100th trip to that stage at the Masters 1000 level. 

After going down an instant break in the final set, Shapovalov won the final five games as Nadal struggled with an apparent foot injury, likely related to his chronic left-foot problem. The one-sided finish belied the hard-fought nature of the contest to that point, with the first two sets seeing a combined 17 break points.

“I am living with an injury. My day by day is difficult,” Nadal said post-match. “I am trying hard but of course it’s difficult to accept the situation at times. A lot of days I can’t practise the proper way.

“Today it started halfway through the second set and it was unplayable for me. I don’t want to take away credit from Denis that he deserves… Today is for him.”

He later added: “I started playing the match much better… so I feel sad about that. A lot of positive things but when this happens the rest of the positive things disappear. It’s time to accept the situation and fight.”

Nadal indeed set the tone early in the match, bringing up three break points in his first return game before breaking twice later in the opening set. But despite the 6-1 scoreline, Shapovalov maintained his threat and was rewarded early in the second. He began to get the better of the punishing rallies that Nadal had edged in the opener and — after saving three break points in a seven-deuce opening service game — broke for 2-0 with more aggressive baseline play.

“I was just trying to change something,” Shapovalov said of that crucial phase. “He was completely outplaying me at the beginning of the match. Obviously the first set, the beginning of the second, I was just hanging in there. Definitely really happy to turn it around.”

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The Spaniard reeled off nine straight points to level at 4-4, but Shapovalov raised his game from there as Nadal began to struggle physically. After missing out on a set point on the return at 5-4, the Canadian cashed in to break for the set as Nadal tried to force a tie-break.

Nadal made one last charge as he broke to open the final set, but with his movement hampered, Shapovalov took full advantage to run away with the match — though he needed three match points as his opponent flashed his trademark fighting spirit one last time.

“Obviously I’m a huge fan of his, growing up,” Shapovalov said of the Spaniard. “I watched him play so many times. Growing up, I wanted to play and behave like him. So I definitely super look up to him and hopefully he’s fit for [Roland Garros].”

Shapovalov, who this week rose to No. 15 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, improved to 2-4 against Nadal, picking up his first win in the ATP Head2Head since his breakout 2017 win in Montreal. The Canadian can reach as high as No. 11 by winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Rome.

He next faces fifth seed Casper Ruud, who’s rounding into form following a slow start to the European clay swing by his standards. The Norwegian reached the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000s in Monte Carlo and Madrid last season but has yet to reach that stage this year on the continent. 

Ruud won their only ATP Head2Head matchup to date, in the 2021 Geneva final.

“Casper is extremely difficult,” the Canadian previewed. “I’ve only played him one time and he got the better of me. He’s an opponent with almost no weaknesses so it’s going to be another challenging match for me.”

At 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, Harri Heliovaara woke up to his one-year-old daughter crying. The Finnish doubles player checked his phone and saw something jarring: 20 missed calls from his partner, Lloyd Glasspool.

That started a wild adventure that less than two days later has seen the pair defeat the best doubles team in the world and reach the Internazionali BNL d’Italia quarter-finals on their ATP Masters 1000 team debut.

“My baby turned one-year-old that day and she gave me a birthday surprise by waking me up and giving me a chance to play the tournament,” Heliovaara told ATPTour.com. “I woke up, saw my phone and that I had like 20 calls from Lloyd. I knew something must have happened.”

The night before, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev withdrew from the doubles draw, opening a spot for an alternate team. At 10:30 that night, Glasspool learned there was a chance they could get in. But neither player was in Rome.

“I couldn’t contact Harri,” said Glasspool, who contacted his partner’s brother and wife to no avail. “His baby actually woke him up in the middle of the night at 2 a.m. his time. Then once I got a hold of him, we [decided] we were going to go and sign [in].

“I had a 6 a.m. flight. I actually missed my alarm and baggage check was closed by the time I could get there, so I just had to take two racquets, a pair of shoes, some match kit and jump on the plane.”

Glasspool was in London and Heliovaara was in Helsinki, but they both booked flights to Rome. They went straight to the Foro Italico and signed in, and received the alternate spot. There was no time to go to the hotel or do anything else.

“He didn’t have any baggage, why would he go to the hotel?” Heliovaara said as they both cracked a laugh. “We were both prepared to fly home the same evening if we lost.”

“We didn’t know where anything was either. We had to go straight and warm up. We didn’t even know where the gym or the practice desk or anything, so it was pretty crazy,” Glasspool said. “But actually playing those guys for me was pretty comforting because one of them is British and I practise with him a lot, so it kind of eased all the pressure for me.”

Glasspool and Heliovaara stunned top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in straight sets. 

“I would say how we felt on the court was great. How it happened, that we could play with absolutely zero pressure, that’s something you want to get often,” Heliovaara said. “You can swing freely, you can do your best, but if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t really matter. We did really well on court.”

^{Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}
There was little time to enjoy it, though. After the whirlwind of a morning, they had to reset for a second-round doubles match on Thursday.

“For me it’s actually been eye-opening a little bit, being able to play so freely… I was still so tired from the night before when I got one hour of sleep, I missed my alarm again. We had a car at 10 and I woke up at 10,” Glasspool said. “Normally I’d panic, but I was just like, ‘This is what’s happening this week. Just get there, you’ll practise fine.’ It’s taken a lot of pressure off. Everything doesn’t need to be perfect, so I will take that moving forward.”

The pair played a thriller against singles stars Thanasi Kokkinakis and Frances Tiafoe in front of a raucous crowd that was largely behind Kokkinakis and Tiafoe. The alternates triumphed 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.

“Now we felt the pressure. We were the doubles team playing two singles guys. They were pretty relaxed,” Glasspool said. “The pressure was back on us and the crowd was loud for them as well. It was kind of just back to business today, a bit more normal.”

Glasspool competed in his first Masters 1000 earlier this year in Miami alongside Michael Venus, while this is Heliovaara’s first Masters 1000. They had played two Grand Slams together, and compared the atmosphere to the majors.

“This feels actually a little bit similar to those events,” Heliovaara said. “There is a massive amount of people here watching the matches. We have women, men, everything. This is where we want to be.”

Glasspool only has the two match kits, racquets, shoes and string he carried onto the plane, and today Heliovaara is down to his last pair of socks. But that doesn’t matter now to last year’s Marseille champions, who reached the final in Montpellier and Dallas earlier this season. What does is that they will play John Isner and Diego Schwartzman for a place in the Rome semi-finals.

“Before we flew here I had four days off for a stag party of my friend. I practised once on Tuesday in Finland. Sometimes you just trust it,” Heliovaara said. “The skills are there, it doesn’t matter the preparation if you actually trust it and keep going without pressure.”