A 2025 NextGen ATP Finals matchup is now a showdown on the big stage — round four of a Masters 1000 to be exact.
Learner Tien and Rafael Jodar will battle for a place in the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia when they meet again on Tuesday. It is a rematch of a round-robin contest last December in Jeddah, where Jodar prevailed 1-4, 4-3(3), 1-4, 4-2, 4-3(4).
Final sets were also the story for both players on Sunday at the Foro Italico. Tien upset Alexander Bublik 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 before Jodar capped off the order of play with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Matteo Arnaldi. The 19-year-old Spaniard came back from a break down in the third set to prevail in two hours and one minute.
“I’m very happy,” Jodar assured. “It’s never easy to play an Italian here in Rome. I tried to play my tennis. Matteo played very well in the second and third sets, so I just tried to be there every point and accept whatever happened during the match.”
Also advancing on Sunday were Alexander Zverev, Lorenzo Musetti, Casper Ruud, Karen Khachanov, Luciano Darderi, and Dino Prizmic. A qualifier, Prizmic followed up his huge win over Novak Djokovic by defeating Ugo Humbert 6-1, 7-5.
nice one, Rafa