Rafael Nadal went down early but like the champion he is, rallied to defeat qualifier Zizou Bergs 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Thursday afternoon at the Rome Masters.

“It was not my best match. I was practicing better than how I played today without a doubt but I found a way …

Rains shut down the Rome Masters early on Wednesday leaving a backlog of matches still to finish.

The men did begin their first round with Italians Flavio Cobolli and Luca Darderi advancing.

French favorite Gael Monfils was ousted by qualifier Thiago Monteiro and former …

The general consensus on the proliferation of 2-week Masters events has been thumbs down. While tournaments are thrilled at the increase in income and lower-ranked players are happy since they gain entry into the bigger draws and enjoy the added earnings, fans and some top players are not convinced.

The events seem to drag on and by the middle of week two, there’s often just one singles match on at a …

The Rome Masters kicked off Tuesday with an early slate of first round matches in the women’s draw. Among the highlights, former Top 5 Paula Badosa rolled past 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in rather easy fashion 6-2, 6-3.

Veteran Angelique Kerber also advanced with a 6-1, …

Iga Swiatek is back in gear as the clear best woman in the world on clay after her first Madrid Masters title on Saturday. The world No. 1 is now setting her sights on the Rome Masters, an event she has twice won before. But she admits she’ll go in not 100% fresh, though she’s not worried.

“I’m not expecting myself to be fresh,” Swiatek told the Rome press …

The men’s event at the Rome Masters gets underway Wednesday in Italy and leading the way will be tennis legends Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

The two have combined for 16 titles between them in Rome with Nadal taking 10 and Djokovic winning six.

With …

Andrey Rublev joined the ranks of a multi-Masters champion capturing the Madrid title Sunday downing Felix Auger-Aliassime in nail-biter 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

The Russian entered the event in the midst of a dismal 4-match losing streak. His game was far from when he collected his first Masters last year in Monte Carlo. He …

After a positive return to tennis last week at the Madrid Masters, Carlos Alcaraz felt better of it to skip the Rome Masters and continue to get his right forearm into better shape for the French Open later this month.

Alcaraz, who turns 21 on Sunday, said Friday that his arm is still not 100% back.

“I felt some pain after playing …

The biggest tennis event in Italy, the Rome Masters, kicks off in a few days but the event will be without it’s biggest star. Jannik Sinner officially withdrew yesterday due to an issue with his right hip, he said.

“It is not easy to write this message but after speaking again with the doctors and specialists about my hip problems I have to announce that unfortunately I will not …

The best rivalry in women’s tennis resumed today at the Madrid Masters 1000 and it didn’t disappoint as the top two players in the world, No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, played until the very end with Swiatek coming out on top in a thriller 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(7).

The longest match of the season — at …

The Madrid Tennis Masters women’s final will take place later today and the match features the two best players in the world, No. 1 Iga Swiatek against No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.

It’s the tenth meeting in this blossoming rivalry with Swiatek ahead 6-3. But the two have split their last four and Sabalenka stunned Swiatek on the clay …

Semifinal day wasn’t as bad as the last day of quarterfinals yesterday at the Madrid Masters, but that’s not saying a lot.

Thursday saw one men’s set played all day so the bar was low. Friday cleared it, but not by much as 2.5 sets were played.

Andrey …

The last day of the quarterfinals turned out to be one of the worst this round has ever seen at the Masters level.

Jannik Sinner withdrew yesterday giving a semifinal pass to Felix Auger-Aliassime. So fans missed out on the top seed taking on the Canadian.

That …

The rematch is set as Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek will battle for the Madrid Masters title for the second straight year.

Swiatek, the clear best play on clay, rolled into her final dispatching Madison Keys 6-1, 6-3. The Polish world No. 1 dropped one set all week en route to her 24th career final, 10th at the …

There will be no 3-peat for Carlos Alcaraz. Today, Andrey Rublev ended Alcaraz’s hopes of becoming the first player to win the Madrid Masters title three straight years with an impressive, near-flawless 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in just over two hours.

Alcaraz took care of the first set but then Rublev caught …