Petra Kvitova, the Queen of Clay?

The two-time Wimbledon champion expresses no love for the red dirt, but the results have proven different of late. On Saturday the No. 10 seed beat unseeded Kiki Bertens 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 for the Madrid Open title, her second straight clay title after Prague.

“It feels sweet and weird as well,” said Kvitova who was playing her 11th match in 13 days. “I didn’t really expect …

Dominic Thiem returned to the Madrid final for a second straight year, and this time in search of his first Masters title, he won’t have to face Rafael Nadal. Instead, it will be the German wunderkind Alexander Zverev.

Zverev worked his way past Denis Shapovalov in a what could be a future rivalary. But so far, it’s Zverev with two wins over the Canadian in Masters semifinals, and on Saturday it …

Will Rafael Nadal face Dominic Thiem for the second week in a row leading into the French Open?

The Italian Open will be the last stop for most of the top players before Paris, and seeds Tomas Berdych, Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov, Jack Sock and Novak Djokovic are among those with opening-round challenges.

INTERNAZIONALI BNL D’ITALIA
ROME, Italy; Surface: clay

Seeds: Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro, Dominic Thiem, …

It’s a loaded field at the Italian Open, where unseeded floaters Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Naomi Osaka and Svetlana Kuznetsova are among the players making it difficult for the seed in early-round meetings.

INTERNAZIONALI BNL D’ITALIA
ROME, Italy; surface: clay

Seeds: Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki, Garbine Muguruza, Elina Svitolina, Jelena Ostapenko, Karolina Pliskova, Caroline Garcia, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, CoCo Vandeweghe, Madison Keys, Daria Kasatkina, Anastasija Sevastova, Ashleigh Barty

Floaters: …

Kiki Bertens and Petra Kvitova will clash Saturday for the biggest clay title so far in 2018.

Bertens kept her incredible run going crushing Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-2.

“I’m really happy with the way I played. I think it was maybe not great tennis, what people want to see with a lot of winners,” Bertens said.

“Caroline is a great player, so I was just trying to play as many different balls as …

The last man to beat Rafael Nadal did it again Friday in Madrid as Dominic Thiem stunned Rafa in front of his home fans in emphatic fashion 7-5, 6-3.

Nadal entered the affair having won 21 straight matches on clay with 50 sets in a row. But Thiem, who beat Nadal in Rome last year, was able to stick around in the first then capitalized on two Nadal doubles faults to …

No top 5 seeds made it to the Madrid semifinals after Thursday play. Top seed and World No. 1 Simona Halep was dismissed in routine fashion by Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-3.

A day after beating Kristyna, the 2-time defending champion Halep had no answer for Karolina who has now won her last nine matches.

“I never really thought I can beat her,” Pliskova said of her 1-6 mark against Halep entering. “This …

Rafael Nadal set more records Thursday in Madrid. The Spanish hero rolled past Diego Schwartzman to win his 21st straight match on clay, and set the mark for most consecutive sets won on a single surface at 50, eclipsing John McEnroe’s 49 on the trot on carpet in 1984.

“I really don’t think much about that. All these things, probably after I finish my career will be the time to think …

Two of the Top 3 seeds in Madrid fell on Wednesday, but the story was Maria Sharapova. Following critical comments from Kristina Mladenovic on her doping return, the Frenchwoman beat Sharapova in Stuttgart last year.

But today, it was the Russian’s turn in a strong 6-3, 6-4 win to advance to the quarterfinals.

“I just felt like I did the right things,” said Sharapova who was down a break in the first. …

Rafael Nadal continued his clay dominance on Wednesday. Playing at his home Masters event in Madrid, Nadal ripped apart Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-1 to win his 20th straight match on clay, 48 consecutive sets.

“The process is very simple for me: I analyze every day the things that happened and try to fix things,” Nadal assessed. “My team and I, we need to keep improving, and keep doing the things that …

Two of the Top 4 seeds advance on Tuesday in Madrid. World No. 1 eased past Australian Open semifinalist Elise Mertens 6-0, 6-3, ending the Belgian’s 13-match wins streak; and, Garbine Muguruza outlasted Donna Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.

But No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina was bounced by Carla Suarez Navarro 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-4 much to the delight of the home Spanish fans.

“I’m very happy because at the end of the day, …

Milos Raonic picked up his first Top 10 win since 2017 Brisbane, topping World No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the third round at the Madrid Masters on Tuesday.

Raonic had lost his last six to Top 10s since upsetting Rafael Nadal at the start of last year in Brisbane and hadn’t beaten Dimitrov since 2011, saved a break point at 3-all then broke to gain the …

The match of the day lived up to the hype in the women’s draw Monday in Madrid. In the clash of former No. 1s, Karolina Pliskova edged Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 1-6, 7-5.

Pliskova lead 3-0 in the third but needed another break and got it at 6-5 to take her 7th straight match win.

The Stuttgart winner now faces Sloane Stephens who cruised past fellow US Open winner Sam Stosur 6-1, 6-3.

Sloane …

It took until May, but former No. 1 Novak Djokovic picked up his first Top 20 victory of the season beating Kei Nishikori 7-5, 6-4 in the opening round of the Madrid Masters.

“It was strange, I must admit, playing Kei in the first round,” said Djokovic who improved to 12-2 against the Japanese. “Our rankings dropped due to injuries and everything else that was happening the last year. I mean, …

Japan’s Taro Daniel beat fellow first-time ATP finalist Malek Jaziri 7-6(4), 6-4 to win the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open on Sunday.

Daniel’s five wins during the week were one more than he had in all of 2017 at the ATP level.

“Obviously really happy,” said Daniel, who upset Novak Djokovic earlier this year at Indian Wells, and had never reached an ATP semifinal. “I think today was a great match, a …