Nishikori To Face Djokovic In Rome On Saturday

SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW: When the main draw of the 2016 Internazionali BNL d’Italia was made, one half featured Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for the first time ever on the ATP World Tour. Who would emerge from the other half? Lucky loser Lucas Pouille is one win away from following his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final and semi-final with a berth in the final.

Pouille is the second lucky loser ever to reach an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, joining Thomas Johansson in the record books. Johansson earned four main draw wins at Toronto in 2004 before falling to Federer in the semi-finals. Pouille, on the other hand, has beaten only Ernests Gulbis and David Ferrer to reach the Rome semis, capitalizing on a first-round bye when No. 7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga withdrew and a quarter-final walkover from Juan Monaco. The luckiest of lucky losers, Pouille fell to Mikhail Kukushkin in the final round of qualifying on May 8.

Madrid finalist Andy Murray did what Pouille couldn’t by beating Kukushkin in the main draw. The World No. 3 has not dropped a set all week and will return to No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday. Pouille is projected to rise to around No. 32, which will be a new career-high for the 22-year-old Frenchman. Should Pouille defeat Murray in their first FedEx ATP Head 2 Head meeting, he will play Djokovic or No. 6 seed Kei Nishikori in the final for the first time as well. The last lucky loser to reach an ATP World Tour final was Marcel Granollers at Valencia in 2010.

Following Murray vs. Pouille, Djokovic and Nishikori meet in an ATP Masters 1000 semi-final for the second time in as many weeks. Djokovic was broken when he served for the match, but held on for a 63 76(4) victory at Madrid on May 7. The World No. 1 is on a seven-match win streak against Nishikori, including a quarter-final victory in Rome last season. Djokovic has also swept 16 straight matches against Top 10 players overall, saving five set points in the second set of his 75 76(4) victory over fifth-ranked Rafael Nadal on Friday.

In the first doubles semi-final, Madrid finalists Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea meet Indian Wells finalists Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock. Then, three-time Rome champions Bob and Mike Bryan take on 2014 Roland Garros champions Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.