A blockbuster Wednesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia features Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in their second-round opening matches on Court Centrale in Rome.

Federer kicks off proceedings at 11am against Portugal’s Joao Sousa and defending champion Nadal plays the following match against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. World No. 1 Djokovic, who claimed the Mutua Madrid Open title on Sunday, headlines night session action against #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov. 

Read: Roger Returns To Rome | Rafa Feeling Positive

Third-seeded Federer won his only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Sousa on the grass courts of the Gerry Weber Open in 2014. A four-time finalist in Rome, he holds a 32-16 career record at this event. Federer quickly found his clay-court form last week in Madrid by reaching the quarter-finals and holding two match points against Dominic Thiem before losing in three sets. Sousa is looking for his fifth Top 10 win and first on clay.

Who will win the latest @FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between these players?#ibi19

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) May 14, 2019

Djokovic defeated Shapovalov in their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting at this year’s Australian Open. The top seed tied Nadal’s record of 33 Masters 1000 titles by prevailing last week in Madrid (d. Tsitsipas) and will have an opportunity to take sole ownership of the record by clinching the title on Sunday. Djokovic, a four-time champion in Rome, would also tie Federer’s “Big Titles” record (54) with another triumph here.

Second seed Nadal begins his quest for a ninth title at the Foro Italico. The defending champion leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Chardy 2-0, but they haven’t faced off in four years. Nadal is still seeking his first title of 2019 after three consecutive semi-final finishes during the European clay swing in Madrid, the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. The Spaniard hasn’t lost before the quarter-finals in Rome since 2008.

Seventh seed Del Potro had a tough opening-round loss last week in Madrid to Serbian Laslo Djere and his draw doesn’t get any easier this week against Goffin. The Argentine is competing in just his third tournament of the year as he nursed a fractured right kneecap sustained last October at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Goffin leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 3-1 and the Belgian showed he’s in top form this week with his first-round win over Stan Wawrinka.

Other notable matches on Wednesday’s schedule include fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, sixth-seeded Japanese star Kei Nishikori squaring off with American qualifier Taylor Fritz and a #NextGenATP battle pitting eighth-seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas against Italian wild card Jannik Sinner.

ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019

CENTRALE start 11:00 am
ATP – Joao Sousa (POR) vs [3] Roger Federer (SUI) 
ATP – Jeremy Chardy (FRA) vs [2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) 
WTA match
Not Before 7:30 pm
ATP – [1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 
Not Before 9:00 pm
WTA match

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
WTA match
ATP – [5] Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 
ATP – Radu Albot (MDA) vs [10] Fabio Fognini (ITA) 
WTA match
ATP – David Goffin (BEL) vs [7] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 

PIETRANGELI start 11:00 am
2 WTA matches 
ATP – [Q] Taylor Fritz (USA) vs [6] Kei Nishikori (JPN) 
ATP – [8] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs [WC] Jannik Sinner (ITA) 
WTA match 

COURT 1 start 11:00 am
2 WTA matches
ATP – [9] Marin Cilic (CRO) vs Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 
ATP – Nick Kyrgios (AUS) vs [Q] Casper Ruud (NOR) 

COURT 2 start 11:00 am
3 WTA matches
Not Before 4:00 pm
ATP – Possible Court Change – Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs [16] Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 

COURT 3 start 11:00 am
ATP – [6] Raven Klaasen (RSA) / Michael Venus (NZL) vs Matwe Middelkoop (NED) / Gilles Simon (FRA) 
Not Before 12:00 noon
ATP – Diego Schwartzman (ARG) vs [Q] Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 
ATP – Kyle Edmund (GBR) / Neal Skupski (GBR) vs [4] Nikola Mektic (CRO) / Franko Skugor (CRO) 
ATP – [1] Lukasz Kubot (POL) / Marcelo Melo (BRA) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT) / Dominic Thiem (AUT) 

COURT 4 start 11:00 am
2 WTA matches
Not Before 2:00 pm
ATP – Karen Khachanov (RUS) / Marc Lopez (ESP) vs [7] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) 
ATP – [3] Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL) / Robert Farah (COL) vs [Alt] Austin Krajicek (USA) / Artem Sitak (NZL) 

Seventh seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan beat Mutua Madrid Open champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-4, 7-6(4) on Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

The Bryans, four-time champions at the Foro Italico, won 85 per cent of their first-serve points and saved all four break points faced to win their first Rome match together since the 2017 semi-finals (l. to Herbert/Mahut).

The twin brothers will meet Karen Khachanov/Marc Lopez, who beat Pablo Cuevas/Juan Martin del Potro 3-6, 7-6(3), 13-11.

Watch Hot Shot: Khachanov Saves Match Point

Austrians Jurgen Melzer/Dominic Thiem set up a second-round showdown with top seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo by beating Italian wild cards Filippo Baldi/Andrea Pellegrino 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.

Canada’s Denis Shapovalov and Spain’s Fernando Verdasco knocked out Madrid semi-finalists Wesley Koolhof/Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-2, and will next face fifth seeds Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic.

Campo Centrale was rocking once more on Tuesday afternoon as another Italian shook up the Internazionali BNL d’Italia draw.

Rome native Matteo Berrettini did the honours on day three, upsetting No. 5 and 2017 champion Alexander Zverev 7-5, 7-5 to celebrate his first Top 5 victory in front of a rocking Roman crowd. The 23-year-old Italian, who won the Hungarian Open last month for his second ATP Tour title (Gstaad, both on clay), broke Zverev once in each set, including in the 12th game of the second, to advance to the Round of 16 at an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time.

Berrettini made his Masters 1000 debut only two years ago, when he was No. 249 in the ATP Rankings. But last week, the 6’5″ right-hander reached a new career-high at No. 31 in the ATP Rankings.

“Environment was great. The match that I played was horrendous,” Zverev said.

The German was coming off a quarter-final run at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Tsitsipas), but has struggled to find his top level this season and fell to 15-10. Zverev finished 2018 with only 19 losses (58-19).

Berrettini was the second Italian to cause a stir in Rome. On Sunday, 17-year-old #NextGenATP Italian Jannik Sinner upset American and four-time ATP Tour titlist Steve Johnson for only his second ATP Tour win and his first at the Masters 1000 level.

Read More: Sinner, 17, Already Knows His Advantage Over Tsitsipas

Berrettini, now 1-2 against Top 10 opponents, will now face Argentine Diego Schwartzman, who swept past Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1, 6-4 in 73 minutes.

Elsewhere, Portugal’s Joao Sousa saved four match points at 5-6 in the deciding set of a 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(4) victory over American Frances Tiafoe in three hours. Sousa, who also trailed 1/4 in the deciding set tie-break, will play third seed Roger Federer in the second round.

Karen Khachanov earned a confidence-boosting win against the ever-consistent Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut on Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The 22-year-old knuckled down to recover from a set and 3-4 deficit to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 29 minutes. By breaking a three-match losing streak against Bautista Agut, Khachanov will next play on Thursday against fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem or Spain’s Fernando Verdasco, whom he lost to at last week’s Mutua Madrid Open.

Khachanov wrestled control away from Bautista Agut by breaking in the ninth game of the second set, then powered through the decider for his ninth match win of 2019. Since winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Paris Masters in November 2018, he has won consecutive matches on two previous occasions: the Australian Open, where he reached the third round (l. to Bautista Agut) and at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where the Russian advanced to the quarter-finals (l. to Nadal). 

Borna Coric, the No. 13 seed, rebounded from a loss in his Madrid opener as he dismissed British qualifier Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-2 for his first main draw win in Rome. Coric, who reached back-to-back Masters 1000 quarter-finals earlier this year in Miami (l. to Auger-Aliassime) and Monte-Carlo (l. to Fognini), will next face the winner between No. 3 seed Roger Federer and Portugal’s Joao Sousa. 

Elsewhere on day three at the Foro Italico in Rome, No. 14 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Rio Open presented by Claro champion Laslo Djere 7-5, 6-4. Djere had won their previous two FedEx Head2Head meetings, including their quarter-final match last month at the Hungarian Open.

In first-round action, American qualifier Taylor Fritz set up a clash with sixth-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori after a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Guido Pella of Argentina.

Jeremy Chardy completed his one-set shootout against fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet, which had been carried over from Monday night at one-set apiece. Chardy triumphed 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 and now challenges second seed and eight-time champion Rafael Nadal on Wednesday.