Tennis News

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.

A fantastic match-up is scheduled to take place in the quarter-final round of the Rome Open, as world No. 3 Maria Sharapova and two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka will cross paths for the 13th time on the professional tour. The head-to-head series is tied 7-7, although Sharapova has won their three most recent clashes.

Seeded third at this year’s tournament, Sharapova continued her relatively straightforward path to the tournament final, as she defeated Bojana Jovanovski on Thursday afternoon in straight sets to set up the meeting with Azarenka. She won the match 6-3,6-3 with little fuss and a solid game that comprised of three aces, winning 66 percent of her first service points and converting six break points to win the match in a total of one hour and 31 minutes.

“Today I just had to be very patient and solid,” Sharapova said. “I had a tricky opponent and not easy conditions – the wind was pretty swirly out on the court, so I just had to stay steady.

“Despite a couple of breaks back and forth in the second set, I was really happy to finish so strongly.”

In a more competitive third round match-up, Victoria Azarenka needed three sets to get past Irina Camelia Begu to secure her spot in the final eight of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. She won 75 percent of her first service points and broke serve seven times to close out the match 6-4,5-7,6-1 in two hours and 14 minutes.

Sharapova and Azarenka have crossed paths on 14 previous occasions, with the series tied 7-7. However, the Russian adversary won their three most recent meetings on the tour, and will look to extend that streak on Friday.While Azarenka has improved tremendously over the past few months, she is yet to prove that she can topple Sharapova since her injury.

Roger Federer is through to the quarter-final round of the Rome Masters 1000 event, where he will meet Czech No. 1 Tomas Berdych for a spot in the final four of the tournament. Of their 19 previous contests, Federer holds a 13-6 head to head lead over Berdych.

The second seed at this year’s tournament furthered his campaign for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title, one of the two ATP World Tour events that the 17-time Grand Slam champion has not won, with a straight sets victory against Kevin Anderson. He won the match 6-3, 7-5 in a contest that started great yet hit some turbulence at the latter stages.

“I had to adjust and react differently in today’s match than yesterday’s match,” said Federer. It was so different, because it’s Kevin and his amazing serve. There’s only so much you can do on the return games. The first thing was not to get frustrated, because I was not seeing where he was serving.

“But thankfully, I got off to a really good start in both sets. From then on, I could relax almost. I was able to break him four times, which was a really good effort in the quick conditions here in Rome.”

Federer will encounter Berdych in the quarter-final round after the Czech edged Fabio Fognini 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2) to secure the win. Berdych struck 10 aces, won 70% of his first service points and saved eight break points to secure the win.

The two competitors have previously met on 19 different occasions on the professional circuit, with Federer winning 13 of those matches dating back to his first victory at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Given that Federer has only improved over the course of this season, he will likely be able to secure the victory with relative ease since he is 3-0 against the Czech on clay and won their most recent set with a bagel.

Seeded fourth at this year’s event, Rafael Nadal furthered his campaign for yet another title win in Rome when he defeated American No. 1 John Isner in straight sets to secure his spot in the final eight of the Masters 1000 event. Nadal, who was 8-3 on clay this season before the start of this tournament, moved to 6-0 against Isner and is three wins away from another title in Rome.

“I [defended] well from the baseline,” Nadal said after the match. “I played with not many mistakes and tried to go for points when I had a chance. I recovered tough balls, had good movement and a few very good passing shots. That is very good for my confidence, too. In general, I think I played very well.

Standing across the net from him on Friday will be Stan Wawrinka, who reached the quarter-final stage in Rome with a straight sets win against Dominic Thiem. He defeated the Austrian 7-6(3), 6-4 in a match where he struck nine aces, won 94% of his first service points and saved the only break point he faced during the entire one hour and 37 minute encounter.

This is set to be the fourteenth time that Nadal and Wawrinka will meet on the professional tour, and the first time since their infamous meeting in Melbourne in the final of the Australian Open last season. Nadal leads the series 12-1 and has only lost to Wawrinka in that Grand Slam final. Apart from that, he has never dropped a set to Wawrinka and should be the favourite on clay, where he is 5-0 against the Swiss No. 2.

Following two consecutive title wins on clay, which included his maiden title on the surface, as well as his first Masters 1000 title on clay, Andy Murray extended that streak with an opening round win in Rome to set up yet another ambitious campaign on the red dust. Murray will next come up against David Goffin, whom he has faced once previously on the professional tour. Murray leads the head-to-head series 1-0.

British No. 1 Andy Murray has been in such remarkable form over the past month on clay that he is officially one of the favourites to watch out for at the French Open, which is quite a surprise to say, even though he reached the semi-final stage of the Grand Slam event last season. After compiling an undefeated 9-0 season over his past two tournaments on clay, including two title wins, Murray extended that undefeated streak to 10-0 on Wednesday when he defeated Jeremy Chardy in straight sets to move onto the third round in Rome. He struck six aces and saved two break points to beat the Frenchman 6-4, 6-3.

“My legs were a bit tired at the beginning,” said Murray. “But then I started to feel better after the first few games. For me, I felt like I played a really good match. He served big for the first set and a half. It was tough for me. But I hung in; I felt like I moved pretty well and I served well throughout the match. I was happy with the way I adjusted to the conditions. I felt like I moved well and made it difficult for him to win free points.”

Murray will next face David Goffin, who survived a rollercoaster encounter with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to escape in three sets. Goffin won 63% of his first service points and saved eight break points and a pair of match points to close out the encounter 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and 31 minutes.

This is just the second time that Murray and Goffin will cross paths on the professional tour, with the Briton leading the head-to-head series 1-0. That sole meeting took place in the opening round of the Wimbledon Championships and ironically kick started an incredible win streak that brought Goffin into the public eye. While his win against Tsonga was an impressive one, he will need to work even harder to topple the in-form Murray.

Following a three-week extended break with no matches on the tour, Novak Djokovic scrapped by to reach the third round in Rome and maintain his quest to defend the title. His campaign will continue on Thursday, where he is scheduled to meet Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci for the third time on the ATP World Tour. All their previous meetings took place on clay, including one in Rome five years ago. The Djokovic vs Bellucci Head to Head stands at 2-0.

After lifting the Monte Carlo title and extending his win streak to 19 consecutive matches, Novak Djokovic found himself struggling on court against Nicolas Almagro in his opening match in Rome. While the contest lastesd over two hours, Djokovic was able to recover from a second set slump to win the match 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3. Even the break he converted in the final set came off a net cord at while up 4-3 on Almagro’s serve and his ace count was matched by his Spanish adversary (11).

“At the end of the day it’s a win after three weeks with no official match,” said Djokovic. “In the important moments today, I did feel a little bit uncomfortable. Maybe that’s due to a lack of competitive play in the past couple of weeks. But I won against a quality player, who knows how to play on the big stage. All in all, it was a great test. Before coming to the court, I was aware he was going to present a great challenge.

Djokovic will come up against Thomaz Bellucci, who reached the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia following a three-set victory against Roberto Bautista Agut. He struck six aces, won 78% of his first service points and saved three break points to rally back to victory 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. It was an impressive win for the Brazilian and sets up his encounter with Djokovic.

This marks the third time that Djokovic and Bellucci will meet on the professional tour but also the first time in nearly four years. Djokovic leads the series 2-0, both on clay, including one at this very event five years ago. While Djokovic did not look his best in his first match, he will have likely shaken off the rust and will be prepared to advance to the quarter-final in straight sets.