Nishikori, Del Potro Face Off Thursday In Rome; Nadal, Djokovic In Action

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia & vote for who you think will win!
Nadal v Sock | Djokovic vs Bautista Agut | Nishikori v Del Potro | Fognini v Zverev

 The third round on Thursday features eight of the Top 9 seeds with a blockbuster line-up with No. 2 Novak Djokovic, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, No. 4 and seven-time champion Rafael Nadal leading the way. Overall 11 of the Top 16 seeds are remaining. In addition, three Americans are in the third round in Rome for the first time since 2002 with No. 13 seed Jack Sock and unseeded John Isner and Sam Querrey. In 2002, Andre Agassi won the title, Andy Roddick reached the SFs and James Blake advanced to the QFs.

In the opening match on Centrale, top Italian Fabio Fognini takes on #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev for the first time. Fognini is coming off his biggest career win over No. 1 Andy Murray on Tuesday night and he is trying to become the first Italian to reach the quarter-finals in Rome since Andreas Seppi in 2012. The 20-year-old Zverev leads the Emirates ATP Race to Milan and he is aiming to reach his third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season (Miami, Madrid).

In the third match on, Roberto Bautista Agut plays Djokovic, who has won five of the previous six meetings, including both clay contests last year at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid and Roland Garros. The Spaniard won the last encounter in the semi-finals at ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai last October. Bautista Agut is 6-33 vs. Top 10 opponents with all six wins coming on hard courts. He is 0-9 on clay vs. Top 10 foes. Four-time champion Djokovic is trying to reach the quarter-finals in Rome for the 11th straight year.

In the evening session, seven-time champion Nadal brings a 3-0 head-to-head record against top American Sock. Nadal comes in with a 16-match winning streak and he posted his 50th career win in Rome on Wednesday as countryman Nicolas Almagro retired with a left knee injury. The 30-year-old Spaniard has a 13-0 record against Americans on clay. Sock is 6-18 lifetime against Top 10 opponents and this is only the second time he’s facing a Top 10 player on clay. He lost to Nadal in the 4R at 2015 Roland Garros. Sock is trying to become the first American to reach the quarter-finals in Rome since Roddick (SFs) and Blake (QFs) in 2008.

In the opening match on Next Gen Arena, No. 9 seed David Goffin and No. 6 Marin Cilic square off for the fifth time. Goffin won three of the four meetings last year. Goffin is looking to reach the quarter-finals for the third straight year and Cilic for the first time since 2011. In the next match on No. 12 Tomas Berdych and No. 5 Milos Raonic battle it out. The Canadian leads the series 4-2 and Berdych won the only previous clay meeting at 2015 ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo. In the final match on, the past two Acapulco champions, No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem and Querrey meet for the third time (tied 1-1). Their previous meetings came in Acapulco in 2016-17.

On Pietrangeli, Wawrinka looks to even his record (1-2) against big-serving Isner, who has fired 53 aces in his first two wins. In the next match, No. 7 seed Kei Nishikori plays Juan Martin del Potro, who owns a 4-1 head-to-head record against the Japanese star. The Argentine is 0-4 against Top 10 opponents this season after going 6-4 last year. His last Top 10 win on clay came at 2012 Roland Garros (d. No. 7 Berdych in 4R, l. to No. 3 Federer in QFs).

View Thursday schedule