Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will continue their Rome campaigns as third-round action wraps up on Friday. Nadal is facing Dusan Lajovic, while Djokovic is going up against fellow Serb Filip Krajinovic.
Dusan Lajovic vs. (2) Rafael Nadal
Unsurprisingly, Nadal did not show any signs up rust during his opener at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday. Although the world No. 2 had not played a match since February, he enjoyed a long training block on clay while most everyone else grinded away on the hard courts of New York. Nadal promptly took advantage of weary U.S. Open semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta, dominating 6-1, 6-1.
Up next for the nine-time Rome champion on Friday is Lajovic, who is 0-2 in the head-to-head series and 0-6 in total sets. Prior to this week, the 25th-ranked Serb had been 0-3 since the restart with a Cincinnati loss to Carreno Busta followed by setbacks against opponents ranked outside the top 70. Lajovic has done well to beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Milos Raonic in Rome, but a massive step up in competition should bring about a swift end to his run.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing 3-4 games
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Filip Krajinovic
It will be an all-Serbian affair when Djokovic and Krajinovic go head-to-head for just the second time in their careers and for the first time in more than 10 years. Their only previous encounter came at the 2010 Belgrade event, where Djokovic retired after dropping the first set 6-4.
Rome’s top seed knows all too well about matches ending before their scheduled conclusion, but he bounced back nicely from the U.S. Open disaster with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Salvatore Caruso on Wednesday. Caruso is in stellar form these days, and so is Krajinovic. The world No. 29 is 7-2 since the sport returned, including wins this week over Felix Auger-Aliassime and Marco Cecchinato. Krajinovic has way more belief against the top players than Lajovic, for example, so that is another reason why this will be by far the more interesting of the two matches.
Pick: Djokovic in 2 losing more than 8 games
WWW?
Krajinovic also beat Djokovic in the Adria Tour in Serbia 2-4, 4-2, 4-1 so Djokovic will have to work hard if he wants to win.
that was an exhibiton
They were playing to win. It was an exhibition as far as no points and prize money but it was competitive just like Abu Dhabi.
Djokovic wanted to play in the final in front of his home crowd.
Rafa in an easy 2; Joker in 3.
Tennis: Rafael Nadal had just taken the set against Dusan Lajovic when he spotted the Serbian accidentally using his towell, prompting him to say ‘I hope you’re negative’!
Video
https://www.foxsports.com.au/video/tennis/tennis/i-hope-youre-negative!786402