Tennis News

Following their impressive displays on Friday, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych will cross paths for the 23rd time on the professional tour to determine who will advance to the final of the Mutua Madrid Open. The Nadal vs Berdych head-to-head series stands at 18-4 and the Spaniard held a 17-match win stream dating back to 2006 that was snapped by Berdych during their most recent meeting at this year’s Australian Open quarter-final.

Six-time champion Rafael Nadal found himself faced with an intriguing obstacle in the form of an inspired Dimitrov during his quarter-final round match on Friday afternoon. While he did lose a break during the second set, he was still able to win the match in straight sets and advance to the following stage of the tournament. He defeated the Bulgarian 6-3,6-4 in one hour and 49 minutes.

“Overall I’m satisfied; I’m happy,” said Nadal. “I have made it to the semi-finals, and I think that’s a great result for me, especially after losing in Barcelona the way I did.

“My goal is [to] feel myself playing better every day. That’s my real goal. Then obviously, the goal is always the same, [to] try to have the [best] result possible.”

In a Herculean effort on court, Tomas Berdych rallied back from a set down and the brink of defeat to save a match point and defeat John Isner in three sets. He won the match 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 in a match that was clearly decided in the tiebreaks.

“I’m really looking forward [to] that challenge,” Berdych said. “It’s going to be a nice match.”

“Today was really about just a few points, which decided both sets in the tie-breaks,”

This marks the 23nd time that Nadal and Berdych will cross paths on the professional tour, with Nadal leading the series 18-4. The Spaniard was on a 17-match win streak against Berdych before the Czech No. 1 snapped that streak recently during the quarter-final stage of the Australian Open. While he now holds the confidence to know he can beat Nadal again, he will have to face the Spaniard on clay, which only

While it appeared as though two of the tour’s top competitors were en route to another blockbuster final on clay, both Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams were handed similar losses in their semi-final matches to make room for the surprise final at the Mutua Madrid Premier event, as the new final now features Petra Kvitova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kvitova leads the head-to-head series 3-1, although has also lost their only previous clay court meeting – their last meeting on the tour at the 2014 French Open.

In undoubtedly the biggest upset in recent memory, Serena Williams had her incredible win streak snapped in Madrid on Friday afternoon when she suffered a straight sets loss to Petra Kvitova in the semi-final round. Kvitova’s 6-2, 6-3 win against the American ended her 27-match win streak from 2014, as well as her incredible 3+ year streak at Premier events.

“Yeah, I think she just played well today,” Williams said. “I mean, she went for broke on every serve, every return. I hit some second serves, 170, 175, and she just hit them for winners. I was very slow off the mark. After my serve I wasn’t moving as well as I should have. You know, I wasn’t in it.

“I wasn’t Serena today. I think that was the main thing.”

Earlier in the day, Svetlana Kuznetsova began the day’s trend of massive upsets, as she comfortably ousted defending champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets to secure her spot in the final. She defeated her fellow Russian 6-2, 6-4 in a surprisingly straightforward affair. While Sharapova had her opportunity in the second set, she was unable to capitalize.

“I feel very happy, it was a very tough match,” Kuznetsova said. “I was playing good, serving good – everything was working well.”

This is set to be the fifth time that Kvitova and Kuznetsova will cross paths on the professional tour, with the Czech No. 1 leading the head-to-head series 3-1. However, it is the Russian who won their most recent encounter, one that took place in the third round of last year’s French Open event. Given that Kuznetsova holds a win against Kvitova in their only clay court encounter, it should add an extra layer of intrigue ahead of Saturday’s final.

Seeded third at this year’s event, multi-time champion Rafael Nadal advanced to the quarter-final stage of the tournament with a straight sets win against Simone Bolelli. He defeated his Italian adversary 6-2, 6-2, in a match where he struck two aces, won 76% of his first service points, and saved both break points faced during the match. He eventually brought an end to the proceedings in 62 minutes of court time.

The Spaniard will next encounter Grigor Dimitrov, who had a longer match in his ousting of Stan Wawrinka on Thursday afternoon. He withstood seven aces, won 79% of his first service points and saved 10 of 12 break points to close out the match 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 in two hours of court time.

“I know what to expect from him and we all know what I’m going to put out there on the court, which is going to be a great performance,” said Dimitrov. “It’s one of those days where I really want to be out there on the court, playing against him on clay. I feel like I have been playing good tennis, so why not go out there and have fun, but at the same time, I know why I’m out there.”

While these two competitors have crossed paths on five previous occasions, this is set to be their first encounter on the tour in 2015. Nadal leads the head-to-head series 5-0, including a win on clay in 2013. However, while Nadal holds an unblemished record against Dimitrov, he is currently at his most inconsistent in recent memory and that could make for an exceptionally entertaining match.

While not given the best of schedules this week on the tour, Andy Murray will continue his quest for a 10th Masters 1000 title when he meets Milos Raonic on Friday afternoon in Madrid. Of their five previous meetings on the ATP World Tour, Raonic leads the head-to-head series 3-2.

Although he had to deal with rain delays in Munich and a final that took place on Monday, Murray found himself with more concerns in Madrid, where he was forced to play his first match well into the early hours of the morning. However, after dispatching Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets, he breezed past Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-0 to advance to the quarter-final stage of the tournament. He won 79% of his first service points and saved the only break points he faced to close out the match in one hour and four minutes.

“I wanted to try and start the match with as much energy as possible, and if I could, get off to a lead early,” said Murray. “Obviously, he played a very long match yesterday [versus Gael Monfils], so I felt like if I could get ahead that I would be able to use that momentum well. It would also give me a bit of a lift really.”

Murray will next encounter his Canadian adversary after Raonic beat Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-3. He struck 11 aces, won 82% of his first service points and saved all three of the break points he faced to close out the match in one hour and 18 minutes.

This marks the sixth time that these two competitors will meet on the professional tour, with Raonic leading the series 3-2. The Canadian has also won two of their three most recent encounters. Both players will be motivated to keep their hopes alive in the tournament, and will be determined not to lose. It should also be noted that Raonic won their only clay court meeting.

A fantastic semi-final clash between top ranked Serena Williams and Czech No. 1 Petra Kvitova is scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon at the Mutua Madrid Open. Williams remains perfect against Kvitova, as she holds an impeccable 5-0 head-to-head record dating back to 2010.

The world No. 1 maintained her unblemished streak against Carla Suarez Navarro with her sixth straight win against the Spaniard on Thursday. In fact, she was just as dominant as always and won the contest 6-1, 6-3 to halt the 10th seeds advancement in the tournament. Williams has now won 27 consecutive matches.

“I learned a lot from yesterday,” Williams said. “I just really have to stay focused. I had a lot of opportunities in that match – I probably should have closed it out in two sets. But Victoria, she’s really such a great fighter. Still, I had an opportunity to stay calm and win a few points here and there.”

“I approach everything as I want to do the best that I can,” Williams said. “I’m so determined for every single point. If I lost the match, it’s okay, as long as I know I gave the best I could on that day.

Petra Kvitova also needed just straight sets to advance to the quarter-final stage in Madrid, as she defeated Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5, 6-3. She struck two aces, won 85% of her first service points and converted three break points to secure the win in one hour and 32 minutes.

This marks the sixth time these two competitors will meet on the professional tour, with Williams holding an undefeated 5-0 record. This is their first ever meeting on clay, and while that could lead to a tighter contest, it will still heavily favour the top ranked American.

Rafael Nadal will continue his quest for a fifth title at the Mutua Madrid Open with a third round encounter against Italy’s Simone Bolelli, whom he has faced on three previous occasions on the professional tour. Nadal leads the head-to-head series 4-0 and will now look to extend that lead with his first win against Bolelli this season.

Four-time Madrid champion Rafael Nadal began his week on home soil in successful fashion, as he defeated America’s Steve Johnson in straight sets to advance to the third round of the Masters 1000 event. He hit 14 aces to win the match 6-4, 6-3 in just over an hour of court time.

“I went out there to do a simple game with no complications,” said Nadal. “I tried to play easily. I know how things work out when you come from losing a couple of matches. I know that you’re a little bit nervous whenever you finish a game, as I finished the other day with [Fabio] Fognini in Barcelona.

“I tried to start from the bottom and just go up. I think, especially the last three games, I finished pretty well. I managed to do a couple more things with my backhand.”

Simone Bolelli won an all-Italian second round contest against qualifier Luca Vanni to set up his meeting with Nadal. He won the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in a contest where he won 83 percent of his first service points and converted three break points to close out the match in one hour and 41 minutes.

Nadal holds a 4-0 lead over Bolelli in the head-to-head series and is still a hefty favourite over the Italian. If all goes according to plan, the Spaniard should ease into the second round with relative ease, even though he has run into some unexpected difficulties on clay so far this season.

World No. 1 Serena Williams will encounter resurgent Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro to determine who will advance to the semi-final round of the Mutua Madrid Open. Williams is undefeated in their five previous encounters in the head-to-head series, including a clay court win last season at this very event. Check out the Williams vs Suarez Navarro Head to Head.

In one of the earlier matches on court this Wednesday, Serena Williams outlasted her longtime rival and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka to secure her 14th h2h victory over the Belarusian. This was easily one of the more competitive encounters yet, which is a positive sign for Azarenka’s recovery. In the end, however, it was Williams who saved three match points to beat her foe 7-6, 3-6, 7-6(1) in two hours and 43 minutes.

When asked about the former US Open champion, she was quick to compliment Azarenka’s return to form.

“It’s so good to see a Grand Slam champion like her playing so well. I’m always rooting for her when she plays. Yeah, so it’s good to see her on her way back – she’s clearly doing great.”

Williams will now come up against Carla Suarez Navarro, whom she demolished several months ago at the Miami Open final. This time, the Spaniard reached the quarter-final stage with an impressive victory over Ana Ivanovic. She won the encounter 7-5, 1-6, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes of court time, during which, she won 68% of her first service points, saved eight break points and won seven of her won.

This marks the sixth time these two competitors will meet on the professional tour, with Williams leading the series with an impenetrable 5-0 record. While the Spaniard is playing some of the best tennis of her career, it is still difficult to envision her actually toppling the world No. 1 player, who is now on a remarkable 26-match win streak.

No sooner did Roger Federer claim his 85th career title on the tour than he suffers an unceremonious opening round exit as the top seed at the Mutua Madrid Masters event. The former four-time champion 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).

“Before the match I didn’t feel nervous or anything like that,” said Kyrgios. “I was just excited to get out to the court. I’ve been playing well recently on the clay, so I knew I had a good chance to go out there and do well. I stuck to my game and served well and I got the win.”

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.

“But credit to him for serving well and keep doing what he was doing. But I’m very disappointed by that. That’s what cost me the match, in my opinion.”

Federer now holds a 21-4 record on the tour this year, with three titles to his name, including one last week in Istanbul.

The enthralling match-ups continue to take shape at the loaded Madrid Open this year, as the first quarter-final match-up has officially been set. Maria Sharapova will meet longtime rival Caroline Wozniacki in an intriguing contest with interesting repercussions. Sharapova leads the head-to-head series 5-4 but lost their last two consecutive meetings, including at the US Open last season.

For the first time in their head-to-head series, Maria Sharapova as faced with a grueling battle against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia. While usually able to win the match in straight sets, Sharapova needed three sets to secure the victory and advance to the quarter-final. After over two-and-a-half hours of court time, the Russian finally exited the court with 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Garcia.

“I’ve played against her a few times and she’s been young and up and coming for a few years,” Sharapova said. “She’s already done a great job of getting in a good position. She’s winning titles and beating top players.

“I think that the most important thing is maintaining that level and keeping that consistency. You know, I’ve seen many of her matches and she can come up with some great stuff. She’s been able to do that against really good players.”

In a much simpler match-up later on in the day, Caroline Wozniacki ousted Polish No. 1 Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets to advance to the following round of the Madrid Open. She struck three aces, won 75% of her service points and won six break points to win the match 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 22 minutes.

This marks the ninth time that the two competitors will meet on the professional tour, with Sharapova leading the head-to-head series 5-4. Sharapova held three consecutive wins over Wozniacki until she was ousted at this year’s US Open tournament. That was later followed up with another Wozniacki victory at the WTA Championship in Singapore. However, while the hard court encounters are split at 3-3, SHarapova is still yet to suffer a clay court defeat to the Dane.