Rafael Nadal had an easy day in Rome.

Notes: Strong seeding but not a lot of field depth…(4) Tomic will start against the Querrey-Baghdatis winner…Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Wildcards went to Berdych, Swede Mike Ymer and Finn Jarkko Nieminen…Last year Berdych came from a set down to beat Dimitrov in the final…Berdych trying to become the first Stockholm back-to-back winner since James Blake (2005-06)…Former champs in the field are Berdych (2014,’12), Dimitrov (2013), and Baghdatis (2009).

Contrary to what commentator Chris Evert says, Serena Williams is the GOAT. She, the Martinas, everyone else is out. But having said that, the odds are against Serena that she is going to win the US Open and complete the calendar year Grand Slam. The pressure build up is too great.

Notes: Five of the Top 10 in New Haven this week…Lots of floating talent…The Top 2 seeds receive opening-round byes…Potential tough starts for (8) Errani vs. Mladenovic, (6) Bacsinszky vs. Garcia, the slumping (7) Radwanska vs. the booming Vandeweghe, and (2) Kvitova vs. Keys…Wildcards were awarded to Wozniacki, Radwanska, Alison Riske and Lucie Safarova…Withdrawing from the event were Belinda Bencic, Ekaterina Makarova and Sloane Stephens…

All the big dogs take to the court on both the men’s and women’s sides in Cincinnati, which sees defending champ Roger Federer return to the court after skipping Montreal last week.

Teen Belinda Bencic pulled off one of the biggest upset of the season beating Serena Williams Saturday night in Toronto.

Sixteen of the Top 17 turn out this coming week for the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where world No. 1 Serena Williams will test the right elbow injury that has forced her to withdraw from her last two tournaments.

Tough starts for (1) Venus in the 2nd rd. vs. the Bastad runner-up Barthel, (4) Cornet vs. Wickmayer, (5) Giorgi vs. Cibulkova, and (2) Svitolina vs. Rybarikova…Veterans Daniela Hantuchova and Francesca Schiavone also floating around…Wildcards went to Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay and Ipek Soylu, and the No. 4 seed Cornet…Pulling from the event were Belinda Bencic, Alexandra Dulgheru, Kristina Mladenovic, Monica Niculescu and Flavia Pennetta…Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat No. 2 Roberta Vinci in last year’s final…Pavlyuchenkova (2010) is the lone returning former champ in the field.

Notes: When world No. 1 Serena Williams is your only Top 20 player in the field, is it safe to say you’ve put all your eggs (aka appearance money) in one basket?…Wildcards were awarded to Swedes Sofia Arvidsson, Susanne Celik and Rebecca Peterson…Pulling from the event were the American triumvirate of Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens…In last year’s final Barthel beat Chanelle Scheepers…Former champs in the field are Barthel (2014) and Serena Williams (2013).

Notes: Tough draws go to (1) Ferrer after a bye potentially vs. Baghdatis…Wildcards went to Brits Kyle Edmund and James Ward, American Taylor Harry Fritz, and German Alexander Zverev…

“I wasn’t able to serve well in my first couple of matches here because I hurt my arm in Madrid, and in Rome I had to pull out,” she said. “I haven’t had a great claycourt season, so I’m pretty excited to have gotten this far.”

Ivanovic is 6-0 career, beating the Ukranian this year in Madrid in straights. Two of the meetings were on clay, where the Serb hasn’t lost a set. You do the math.
Winner: Ivanovic in straights

The Czech’s biggest career win equaled two other career wins over world No. 2-ranked players — Justine Henin at the Paris indoors in 2007, and Caroline Wozniacki at Stuttgart in 2010. She will now tomorrow meet No. 21 seed Garbine Muguruza, who overpowered No. 28 Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-4.

Serena’s draw to the semifinals could go through Stosur, last year’s finalist Errani then the former French champ Ivanovic to meet either Sharapova or Wozniacki in the semis…

“I wrote a message to [Hingis] after her loss on Saturday to tell her that I was proud of what she did and I was inspired too,” Bacsinszky said of Hingis’ effort that came just shy of a singles win, 17 years after she played her last Fed Cup singles. “I told her she needs to be proud of herself. Not everyone can come back and play such great tennis as this.”