Murray Could Face Zverev Early In Rome
Murray Could Face Zverev Early In Rome
Top seed Andy Murray could face another early challenge from a #NextGenATP star at next week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia. After falling to 20-year-old Croatian Borna Coric in Madrid this week, Murray is seeded to meet in-form German Alexander Zverev, the leader of the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, in the third round.
The Rome draw has also thrown up brutal first-round clashes: Juan Martin del Potro, playing just his second match of the clay season, faces 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov. Nick Kyrgios and Roberto Bautista Agut, the two highest-ranked players not to be seeded, will do battle. And 39-year-old Tommy Haas plays 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic in the oldest-combined match since Vina del Mar in 1982, when Ricardo Cano (30) defeated Luis Ayala (49).
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Murray is in no danger losing his hold on World No. 1 next week but he is defending 1000 points for winning the Rome title last year and soon after will defend 1,200 points for reaching the Roland Garros final last year. (During the grass swing he will defend 2,500 points for his victories last year at Queen’s and Wimbledon.)
Murray routed Zverev 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in their only meeting, at the Australian Open in 2016. But Zverev has evolved into one of the game’s hottest young stars and is being touted as a future No. 1. This year he has a 21-9 match record, including titles in Munich and Montpellier.
For the third straight clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have been drawn in the same half. But second-seeded Djokovic, last year’s finalist, could face a very tough third-round match.
Vying for the chance to play Djokovic are 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta and Gilles Simon, who meet in the first round. The winner of that plays the winner of Bautista Agut and Kyrgios, the Aussie powerhouse who beat Djokovic in back-to-back tournaments this year in Acapulco and Indian Wells.
Third seed Stan Wawrinka, chasing just his second match win of the clay swing, will open against the winner of Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Benoit Paire, who upset the Swiss in the second round of Madrid this week.
Fourth-seeded Nadal will play the winner of Italian Andreas Seppi and a qualifier in the second round after enjoying an opening-round bye.
Main-draw play in Rome begins Sunday.