Tennis News

Eugenie Bouchard will look to trek on in her turbulent 2015 season when she begins her campaign in Rome. The 21-year-old will begin her quest in Italy against a fellow 21-year-old in Zarina Diyas. The two have never faced each other in professional competition, which adds to the intrigue of this coming encounter.

In Madrid, the Canadian darling was part of a bizarre trend of seeds falling in the early stages of the tournament. Bouchard continued her disappointing trend with yet another first round loss, this time to Barbora Strycova. The Canadian was up 6-0 but still lost the match in baffling fashion, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 to Strycova.

She moved to 6-8 on the professional tour this season and is yet to emerge as a legitimate threat at any event this season.

That was not the only disturbing trend emerging from the Bouchard camp, as she was also a part of some controversy at the Fed Cup, where she refused to shake her opponent’s hand and went on to lose the match the following day.

“It’s nothing personal towards her, I just don’t believe in wishing my opponent good luck before the match,” Bouchard told Romanian media. “After we play [Saturday] I will shake her hand, no matter what happens.”

The Canadian will attempt to revere her fortunes when she comes up against Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas. She defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets, 7-5, 6- to advance to her first meeting against Bouchard. She won 57% of her first service points and saved 7/10 break points to close out the match in one hour and 26 minutes.

This is the first time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour and could make for an interesting contest. Given that Bouchard is far from her best at the moment, it would not be surprising to see her give away another lead in the match and lose in bizarre fashion.

A first-time meeting between Simona Halep and Alison Riske is scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon in Rome. Halep, who is coming off a disappointing week in Madrid, will look to rebound successfully in her final warm-up event ahead of the French Open.

Following an excellent start to her 2015 season, which included title wins in Dubai and Indian Wells, and most recently reached the semi-final stage in Miami, Simona Halep was dealt a significant blow on Sunday when she was ousted from the Madrid Open in her opening round match.

Faced with the inconsistent game of French No. 1 Alize Cornet, many assumed that Halep would be victorious en route to the second round of the tournament. However, the Romanian played an off-colour match and eventually surrendered the contest and allowed Cornet to close out the affair 7-6(6), 6-3.

“I learned many things from this match, like that I have to be relaxed when I’m defending big points. So I will forget this tournament – the tournament is lost. I have nothing to do but to look ahead now.”

“I had some problems last week in Madrid, but I’m feeling happy with my game again now,” she said. “I am hoping to have some more matches on clay – I still need some matches to reach my highest level. I’ll need to fight this week, because right now I’m a little bit far away from where I want to be.

Halep will begin her campaign against USA’s Alison Riske. The American reached the second round of the tournament with a straight sets win against Varvara Lepchenko. She won 74% of her first service points, saved three break points and converted four others to secure the 6-4, 6-3 win in one hour and 32 minutes.

This is just the first time that Halep and Riske cross paths on the professional circuit. Although this could serve as another surprising upset, Halep will likely be wary of her previous mistakes and will work on keeping her anxiety at bay while on court.

Following a less-than-stellar week in Madrid, 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer will look to reverse his recent misfortunes and complete his French Open warm-up in successful fashion. He will begin his 2015 Rome Masters 1000 event campaign against Pablo Cuevas, whom he met in the final of the Istanbul final just two weeks ago. This is just the second time that these two competitors will meet on the professional tour, with Federer leading the head-to-head series 1-0.

Just days after he won his 85th title on the tour, the former four-time champion in Madrid suffered a tight three-set loss to rising Aussie star Nick Kyrgios. In what turned out to be an enthralling encounter on the tour, Kyrgios was able to save several match points to eventually snatch the deciding points in the third set tiebreak. He won the contest 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(12).

Although Federer was far from his worst, he admitted that he was simply unable to return Nick’s monster first serves.

“My problem was I couldn’t return his first serve,” said Federer, who won 18 of 85 first serve return points. [It] was just a horrible performance on the return. “As the match went on it got so bad that I just couldn’t get into decent positions on the return, so it made it very difficult to get any sort of rhythm after that.”

Federer will next come up against Pablo Cuevas, who secured his spot in the second round of the tournament with a straight sets win against Paolo Lorenzi. He struck five aces, won 81% of his first service points and faced no break points en route to the 6-3, 6-2 win in one hour and 17 minutes.

This is the second t time that these two competitors will meet on the professional tour, yet it is still one that will likely favour the vastly more experienced Federer. He was able to deny Cuevas a fourth ATP World Tour title by handing him his first defeat in a tournament final and will be keen to add to that en route to the third round in Rome.

The top player on the ATP World Tour took the week off in Madrid, a decision that will allow him to be a significant force in Rome. Novak Djokovic will begin his campaign against Nicolas Almagro, whom he has faced on three previous occasions on the professional circuit. The Serb leads the head-to-head series 3-0.

Djokovic, who already has a clay court Masters 1000 title to his name this season, has a 30-2 record so far this season and appears to be near-unstoppable on the tour. Most recently at the Monte Carlo event, Djokovic overcame a determined Tomas Berdych in three sets to lift his third Masters 1000 title of the season. He won the match 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in a contest that was interrupted by a rain delay midway through the second set. Djokovic eventually won the match in two hours and 43 minutes to extend his winning streak to 17 consecutive matches.

“I want to build a platform to get off and perform well,” Djokovic admitted at the Foro Italico Saturday. “At this level you need freshness of mind and also fresh legs in order to perform well to overcome the challenges of long and exhausting matches on this surface. I hope my decision to skip Madrid will positively effect this week and Roland Garros. We’ll see.

“I have done things in the right way over the past couple of weeks. My whole team is here – both coaches – so we are taking it really seriously and we hope to have a good result.”

Spain’s Nicolas Almagro began his week in Rome with a straight sets victory against Italy’s Luca Vanni. He struck seven aces, won 88% of his first service points and saved all three of the break points he faced en route to a 6-4, 6-3 win in one hour and 18 minutes.

This marks the first time in three years that Djokovic and Almagro will meet on the professional tour. Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 3-0, including a clay court victory at this event seven years ago.

Following an exceptional start to his clay court season this year, which includes an undefeated streak with two title wins, Andy Murray will look to carry this momentum forward in his final warm-up event ahead of the French Open. He will begin his Rome campaign against Jeremy Chardy, whom he holds a 5-1 lead over in the head-to-head series.

The world No. 3 maintained his undefeated clay court streak when he defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets to lift the Mutua Madrid Open title on Sunday. It was Murray’s second win at this event but his first since the tournament moved to clay. Following a solid opening set of tennis, Murray stunned the all-Spanish pro-Rafa crowd by breaking for a 4-0 lead in the second set. From there, he finished the match 6-3,6-2 for his first win against Nadal on clay.

“I think I wasn’t expecting this a couple of weeks ago, so when things are unexpected, it feels nicer,” admitted Murray. “I didn’t feel like I put too much pressure on myself the past couple of weeks, which is a good thing

It is difficult to determine the outcome of this particular contest. On one hand, Murray’s recent streak is a positive sign for his French Open goals, yet he may also be worn out following two action-packed weeks on the tour. He leads Chardy 5-1 and should have little trouble advancing, yet he may need three sets to get the job done this time around.

Jeremy Chardy denied a potentially dramatic rematch between Murray and Lukas Rosol when he defeated the Czech No. 2 in straight sets 7-6,6-4 to advance to the second round of the tournament. He struck 10 aces, won 78% of his first service points and saved the only break point he faced to close out the match in one hour and 37 minutes.

Maria Sharapova will attempt to right the wrongs that have occurred in her pre-French Open warm-up title defenses this season when she begins her Rome campaign on Tuesday afternoon against Jarmila Gajdosova. This marks the first time that the two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour.

Following her surprise exit at the start of the Stuttgart Open this year, a tournament where she was the defending champion, Sharapova was ousted in the semi-final round in Madrid at the hands of Svetlana Kuznetsova. It was a surprising defeat given that she had beaten Caroline Garcia and Caroline Wozniacki to reach that stage of the tournament.

Given that she is coming off a recent injury, Sharapova is confident she will get back on the horse soon:

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“Yeah, I think about ten days ago I think I started from somewhere around zero. I’ve come to a good stage; not the best one. It’s been a while. I was just thinking it’s been a while since I played five matches in six days. I think it was back in January. So it’s great to be back in that position, but it takes a lot more to continue that. I have to build on that. I have to build being able to step up every day, because it doesn’t get easier. It gets tougher.”

Jarmila Gajdosova reached the second round in Rome with a three-set victory against Elena Vesnina. She struck eight aces, won 66% of her first service points and converted six break points to win the match 1-6, 6-2, 7-6(14) in two hours and nine minutes. It was an impressive win for the Slovakian native, as she rallied from a set down and fought through an incredibly tight third set tiebreak to get the job done in the end.

This marks the first time that Sharapova and Gajdosova will cross paths on the professional tour and it is likely a contest that will favour Sharapova, as she works her way back to top form.

In one of the more surprising finals in recent memory, Andy Murray defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets to lift the Mutua Madrid Open title on Sunday. It was Murray’s second win at this event but his first since the tournament moved to clay.

Murray stormed to a 3-0 start against Nadal and looked the sharper of the two competitors. While the Spaniard woke up shortly thereafter, he was unable to regain the break and dropped the opening set. Murray then added to his momentum by breaking for an early 2-0 lead in the second set before he stunned the crowd by breaking again for a 4-0 lead. From there, he finished the match 6-3,6-2 for his first win against Nadal on clay.

“I think I wasn’t expecting this a couple of weeks ago, so when things are unexpected, it feels nicer,” admitted Murray. “I didn’t feel like I put too much pressure on myself the past couple of weeks, which is a good thing.

“Obviously to win a Masters 1000 on clay for me is a step in the right direction. It’s something I had never done before. So that’s good progress there. To win against Rafa on clay in a final in Spain is an extremely difficult thing to do, and I’m proud that I’ve managed to do that.”

Nadal, who commit far too many unforced errors for comfort, dropped to 8-3 on clay this season and has also dropped outside of the Top 5 for the first time since 2005.

“I’ve played a couple good matches [this week], especially yesterday’s match,” said Nadal. “It’s one of the best matches I have played in a long time. So I cannot leave Madrid not happy. I have leave happy and just delete what happened today. I will just stay with the good things that happened this week, and there are a lot of them, more good than bad. I will try to recover in Rome the feelings. I think I’ve made a step forward and I’m playing better. My game is better.”

Murray and Nadal are both scheduled to compete in the Rome Masters this week.

With the French Open just 2 weeks away, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia provides the final opportunities for the top players to tune up their game. It is also notable for the fact that if Rafael Nadal doesn’t win this event, it will be the first time he has failed to win a clay Masters 1000 event since 2004 – a year in which he did not compete in any of them. Nadal is a seven time winner in Rome and has made the last six finals.

Novak Djokovic returns after missing Madrid and has to remain the favourite on his form and Nadal’s continued struggles. Last year, he picked up his third Rome title with a three set win over Nadal. He begins his title defence against Nicolas Almagro, who saw off the threat of wildcard Luca Vanni in round one. He is 3-1 against Almagro, with the sole win for the Spaniard coming in a 2004 Challenger match.

In their fourth career meeting (first in ATP main draw), Roberto Bautista Agut will hope to get the better of his countryman Marcel Granollers. Bautista Agut was defeated by Kei Nishikori for the second time in three tournaments in Madrid last week, making each of his last four losses be to a top 10 player. The winner faces a qualifier – either Thomaz Bellucci or Diego Schwartzman. Bellucci qualified without dropping a set while Schwartzman needed 3 to see off Benoit Paire.

Australian tennis continues to rise with two players now in the top 35 and they could meet in round two. Nick Kyrgios stunned Roger Federer in Madrid but was unable to follow up his victory in the next round, losing to John Isner. He will have to pull off another surprise win by defeating 11th seed Feliciano Lopez. The Spaniard is in far from great form, going 3-4 since Miami. Bernard Tomic, now ranked 26, plays Viktor Troicki for the first time on clay. Tomic does lead the head to head 2-1 but all three matches were on hard courts. Kei Nishikori rounds off the first quarter of the draw. He failed to defend his final points in Madrid, losing in the semi finals to eventual winner Andy Murray. Nishikori, 29-6 on the year, will play Jiri Vesely after the Czech overcame Ernests Gulbis in three sets on Sunday. A quarter final clash with Djokovic offers a lot of intrigue and will give a further idea of Nishikori’s French Open credentials.

Andy Murray‘s stunning run to the Madrid title made it two clay titles in two weeks after failing to win one in his career previously. Although Nadal was far from his best in the final, three top 10 wins in the week suggest that Murray could be more than easy pickings for the best in Paris. He opens against Jeremy Chardy, who beat Lukas Rosol in straights in round one. Another Frenchman could be on the cards in round three if Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can live up to his 13th seeding position. Tsonga is 0-2 against the top 10 this year but will be confident going into round two if he sees off Sam Querrey. The Frenchman already has a win over likely opponent David Goffin at Monte Carlo this year.

David Ferrer has lived up to his seeding in the past two Masters events in Madrid and Monte Carlo by making the quarter finals but was defeated at this stage both times, to Nishikori and Nadal respectively. This time round, Andy Murray is the projected quarter finalist if seedings hold. While he is 6-9 against Murray, Ferrer does lead 4-0 on the head to head, most recently winning at the 2012 French Open in 4 sets. Richard Gasquet plays Thomas Fabbiano for the opportunity to play Ferrer and reverse an ugly 3-8 head to head. Ninth seed Marin Cilic is still finding his feet on the year, hoping to turn around his current 3-4 record in 2015. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez is first up for the Croatian with either Alexandr Dolgopolov or Martin Klizan waiting in round two. Cilic is 3-0 against Klizan while going 1-1 against Dolgopolov.

By virtue of being drawn in the opposite half of the draw to Djokovic, Rafael Nadal will have a much better chance of making his seventh straight final at this event. It’s a route that doesn’t look too troubling, even with Nadal not at 100% of his ability. 16th seed John Isner did take Nadal to three sets in Monte Carlo but it will be a tough ask to do that again even with Isner playing good tennis at this moment in time. Isner will still most likely have to beat Leonardo Mayer to get there, after the Argentinian defeated Federico Gaio in round one on Sunday.

Stanislas Wawrinka, the other top 8 seed in this quarter, could do with a good run after failing to make it past the last sixteen in his last four tournaments. He may well do that this time round, but defeating Nadal will still remain a tough ask with their lopsided head to head. Wawrinka will open against Juan Monaco or Dusan Lajovic while Gilles Simon will play Jack Sock in his first match of the tournament. Dominic Thiem will hope to return to form when he faces Simone Bolelli in round one. The highly touted Austrian has seen a number of shock defeats in the past month, while also losing just three games to Fabio Fognini in Munich in the same time period.

Likely semi final opponents for Nadal in the case that he gets there include Federer and Tomas Berdych. It was thought that Berdych might trouble Nadal in Madrid but it was never all that close, Nadal winning 76 61. All of Berdych’s defeats this year have come to top 10 players, including the Monte Carlo final which he lost in three sets. Despite a surprise win over Santiago Giraldo in round one, wildcard Matteo Donati is unlikely to be much of a threat to the Czech. A third round clash intrigues with most likely Grigor Dimitrov, although Fabio Fognini and perhaps Jerzy Janowicz will have something to say about that as they compete for a place in the third round. Berdych lost to Dimitrov at this event last year, a week after beating him in Madrid.

After losing from match point up to Nick Kyrgios in Madrid, Roger Federer will be out to ensure it doesn’t happen again in Rome. He may play an opponent whom he already has a win over this year in Pablo Cuevas. The Uruguayan lost in straight sets but will relish the opportunity for another crack and should beat Paolo Lorenzi in round one and extend the head to head to 4-0 over the wildcard. A big serving Kevin Anderson seems the most logical option for an early Federer shock but in reality, it seems very unlikely that the South African could win in a possible third meeting. Anderson needed two tiebreaks to defeat Florian Mayer in three sets and will likely play another German in round two, with Philipp Kohlschreiber taking on Donald Young for a spot in the second round.

A blockbuster final has been set for Sunday afternoon at the Mutua Madrid Open, as two members of the Big Four, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, meet to determine who will lift the title just weeks ahead of the French Open. For Nadal, this is an opportunity to win his seventh title in Madrid, while Murray will look to follow up on his first clay court title last week with a Masters 1000 crown to his name on clay. Nadal leads the head-to-head series 15-5, including a 6-0 record on clay.

While the first set was a competitive affair, world No. 4 Rafael Nadal produced a solid performance to defeat Tomas Berdych 7-6(3), 6-1 and advance to the final of the Madrid Open. It was a promising performance from Rafa, who looked as though he was swinging freely and with confidence.

“For the past couple of days I have been playing better and better every day,” said Nadal. “That’s always very good news. I am in the final. I am happy for that. I am enjoying a lot the fact that I am playing in front of an unbelievable crowd. For me, that’s the best crowd in the world without any doubt. So that gives me a lot of really positive energy.

In a surprisingly straightforward encounter on Saturday, British No. 1 Andy Murray defeated Kei Nishikori in straight sets to secure his spot in the final of the tournament. He won the match 6-3, 6-4 to advance his undefeated streak on clay this season to 9-0.

“This year and in the off-season I put in a lot of hard work on my game and made a few changes and tried to get back to playing the way that I was playing when I was my most successful,” said Murray. “I think today I was pretty aggressive. I tried to dictate a lot of the points, especially when he was serving, and it worked well.”

This marks the 21st time that these two competitors will cross paths on the professional tour, with Nadal leading the head-to-head series 15-5. He is also 6-0 against Murray on clay, including two consecutive wins on the red dust in 2014, the latest of which was the semi-final stage of last year’s French Open event. While Murray is riding a significant wave of momentum heading into the final, Nadal appears to be back to near-100-percent form and that could signal the end of Murray’s undefeated streak this season on clay.

“Against Rafa it is going to be extremely difficult, especially playing here in Spain. I think he’s played very well this week, too. Hopefully I can put in a good performance and make it tough for him and see what happens.”

Following solid displays in their quarter-final showings, Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori will meet to determine who will advance to the final of the Mutua Madrid Open. Both players are in fine form heading into their fifth overall encounter on the tour. Murray leads the head-to-head series 3-1, yet the Japanese No. 1 won their most recent meeting at the World Tour Finals last season.

Seeded second at this year’s tournament, and with a title to his name on clay heading into the semis, Murray advanced in impressive fashion with a straight sets win against Canada’s Milos Raonic. The Briton hit 19 winners and saved all five of the break points he faced during the match to win the encounter 6-4,7-5 in one hour and 41 minutes.

“I feel like I’ve been moving well,” said Murray. “The first couple of weeks on the clay, I tried to work on it quite a lot in my training block before I started playing the tournaments.

“Because I feel healthy this year, I’m not worrying about my back or worrying about things when I am put in difficult positions on court. That obviously gives me a bit more confidence in the movement.”

In the last match on court that day, Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer met in a rematch of their 2014 meeting in Madrid yet the match could not have been more different. While the outcome was the same, a straight sets win for Kei, it was a far easier meeting this time around. Nishikori dominated the encounter, as he struck 22 winners and converted five break points to earn the victory in one hour and 12 minutes.

This marks the fifth time that Murray and Nishikori will meet on the professional tour with Murray leading the series 3-1. While Murray has performed better historically in this rivalry, it is Nishikori who won their most recent meeting last season at the World Tour Finals and is in fit enough shape to add to that this week in Madrid.