Nadal Rallies Past Sinner At Rome Masters; Medvedev’s Clay Troubles Continue

Rafael Nadal was down a break three times to the teen prodigy Jannik Sinner but rallied to win it 7-5, 6-4 at the Rome Masters on Wednesday.

Sinner, who played Nadal tough at the French Open last fall, came out connecting on his flat, heavy shots but the 19-year-old came up short in crunch time. Too many errors with a couple double faults helped Nadal.

Nadal finally took the opener on his seventh break point.

In the second, Sinner again go out on top and again he conceded the break. Nadal managed to break Sinner for the match on his fourth match point.

“Have been a positive match for me,” Nadal said. “I think I did a lot of things well. I played a solid match. Happy in a lot of positive things against a very tough player like Jannik, no? Yeah, very pleased with the victory.

“I hit some very good forehands, cross-courts too to avoid his great backhand cross, and then he has a great change down the line,” he said.

“Is not a surprise for me. No, I know how good he is and the shots he has. He has great shots when he’s running. He has always great comebacks from tough positions.”

Sinner came up just short again to Nadal, but having led in both sets, the time will come.

“For sure I’m more disappointed and especially sad today, because I think obviously we both played quite high-level match,” Sinner said. “Now it’s tough to accept that I’m already out of the court because, you know, the first set I was up twice with break, and the second set I was up with break.

“It’s tough to accept, because obviously I think Roland Garros was more like a test to see where I am and, you know, this time I knew that I could have and maybe today I should have done something more.

“He handled the situations a little bit better today than me. So I think he deserve to win today.”

Nadal will now face Denis Shapovalov tomorrow in the third round.

Stefanos Tsitsipas had an easy day rolling past former US Open champion Marin Cilic 7-5, 6-2. Cilic has now lost his last 11 against Top 10s. The win for Tsitsipas sets up a great third round against Matteo Berrettini who bested John Millman 6-4, 6-2.

Alexander Zverev kept his run going. The Madrid winner cruised past Huge Dellien 6-2, 6-2. Dominic Thiem also advanced rallying past Marton Fucsovics 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-0.

Fucsovics led Thiem by a set and 3-1 and also held a 5-4 lead in the second set breaker.

“In that exact moment, I was just focused to win the next point,” Thiem said being down 5-4 in the breaker. “I was down all the time. You know, first set I lost and then second I was a break down. Tiebreak I was 4-5 down. So until that point, 5-All, I was down all the match.

“So I told myself, Well, this is the chance now to go up for the first time in the whole match. It’s also, if I win the point, it’s a chance to win the set, no? That’s what went through my mind. Luckily I took it.”

Daniil Medvedev’s misadventures on clay continued losing to Aslan Karatsev 6-2, 6-4.

Andrey Rublev, Roberto Bautista Agut, Lorenzo Sonego and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina were also winners. Davidovich Fokina will now meet Novak Djokovic on Thursday.

“It’s gonna be a big challenge, but I’m so excited to play tomorrow against Djokovic,” Davidovich Fokina said. “I knew him because we train, we practice a lot of times in Marbella. I know how he play, how he thinks. Then I will not be surprised how he’s gonna play tomorrow.

“I have to be more solid, to be more passions, because he’s a very solid player. He attack, he defends so well. I have to come tomorrow to play my game, to do my best game.”

THURSDAY ROME SCHEDULE
Center Court Starts At 10:00 Am
1 Novak Djokovic v (Q) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
1 Ashleigh Barty v Veronika Kudermetova
Not Before 2:00 Pm
13 Denis Shapovalov v 2 Rafael Nadal
Not Before 6.00PM v
12 Garbiñe Muguruza v 5 Elina Svitolina

Grand Stand Arena Starts At 10:00 Am
Reilly Opelka v Aslan Karatsev
Not Before 12:00 Noon
9 Matteo Berrettini v 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas
9 Karolina Pliskova v (Q) Vera Zvonareva
Jelena Ostapenko v Angelique Kerber
Not Before 7:00 Pm v
R16 4 Dominic Thiem v Lorenzo Sonego

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