Rafael Nadal will be part of a jam-packed schedule in Rome as second-round action continues on Wednesday, and he faces a potentially tough opener against Philipp Kohlschreiber. Milos Raonic and Nick Kyrgios are also in action.
Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. (5) Rafael Nadal
Nadal will be looking to bounce back from a Madrid semifinal loss to Andy Murray when he takes the court at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday. The fifth-Spaniard captured back-to-back titles on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, but his momentum–and his quest for the No. 4 seed at Roland Garros–took a hit last week. Conditions in Rome, however, have always been more advantageous for Nadal than they are in Madrid. He is 47-4 lifetime at this tournament with seven titles.
Up first for Nadal is Kohlschreiber, who is a futile 1-12 in their ATP-level head-to-head series. The nine-time French Open champion is 4-0 at Kohlschreiber’s expense on clay with set scores of 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, and 6-3. They just faced each other in Barcelona, where Nadal had no trouble coasting through a semifinal contest. Kohlschreiber set up this rematch by rolling over qualifier Inigo Cervantes 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday afternoon. The 26th-ranked German is 20-9 for the season and 12-4 in his last 16 matches, but he is a horrendous 0-21 in his last 21 non-retirement efforts against top-10 opponents.
Pick: Nadal in 2
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(10) Milos Raonic vs. Nick Kyrgios
Raonic and Kyrgios will be squaring off for the fifth time in their careers on Wednesday. The head-to-head series stands at 2-2, but Raonic won their only previous clay-court encounter 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-3 two years ago at Roland Garros. They split a pair of Wimbledon showdowns in 2014 and 2015 before Kyrgios extended his winning streak against the Canadian to two by prevailing 6-4, 7-6(4) two months ago in the Miami quarterfinals.
Both big hitters are coming off Monday victories over Italian wild cards, although they took much different routes to find the winner’s circle. Kyrgios crushed little-known Salvatore Caruso 6-1, 6-2, while Raonic scraped past a more established competitor in Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Despite not being at his very best, the world No. 10 improved to 24-5 for a season in which he has not yet lost prior to the quarterfinals of any tournament. Kyrgios is 20-6 and has reached at least the quarterfinals in five of seven events in 2016. The 20-year-old Australian may be more reliable from the baseline than his opponent, but Raonic wields an even bigger serve and his current match toughness may be unequaled by anyone except Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. This could be a scenario in which Kyrgios wins as many if not more total points only to see Raonic win the bigger ones.
Pick: Raonic in 3
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Good serving from raonic gets him to game point.
Raonic holds. Still on serve.
Thanks for the updates nny. No Tennis Channel for me.
Hawkeye,
What? That’s not good! Then I will keep updating the action.
Tennis channel commentators saying that Kyrgios may have a hip ussue. Chair umpire asked him on the changeover if he wanted him to have s physio nearby, but Kyrgios said no. It’s a hip flexor issue.
They said it’s cold and damp still from the rain.
Krygios holds and it’s a TB. Surprise!
Both guys playing well in this match.
4-3 Krygios
Kyrgios gets lucky with a shank mishit for a winner.
Oops, Kyrgios loses the next point.
Big serve from kygrios gets him to set point.
Wow! Kyrgios wins the first set TB!
Kyrgios gets the break in the second set.
Kyrgios has taken control in the second set.
Thought he’d beat Milos in this one.
As predicted.
Congrats to Me.
#HawkstradamusRising
Raonic is losing badly to Kyrgios.
I am surprised by how easily kyrgios is beating raonic.
Kyrgios gets the second break and will serve out the match.
5-1
Kyrgios is broken serving for the match.
Raonic played well in the 1st set and it was down to one or two points in the TB after that Raonic went awol.
Kyrgios wins in straight sets.
I can’t believe that rafa will have to play him next,
Here comes Rafa on the court!
I’m not. Milos’ play goes in cycles timed with his injuries one of which he is just coming out of and Nick has been the more consistent player over the last few weeks plus the clay takes some of the sting out of his serve and nick’s wingspan puts him in a good position for good ROS diminishing Milos’ strength.
as expected…I just knew Kyrgios would win…I do not know what makes Kyrgios happier at the moment: the fact that he beat Milos or the prospect of having to play Rafa…
Drizzly damp conditions plus an evening match against an improved Khols on Klay is concerning.
Rafa blamed such conditions last week for some poor results saying it diminishes his spin.
Don’t know why he’s unable to secure day matches. Well actually I do.
Tracy Austin just said that she thinks Rafa is at 80 or 90%. She said if he was 100% he would not have lost to Murray in Madrid.
I think that’s a fair assessment,
I am a bit concerned about the conditions. They said it’s raining lightly now.
Rafa has an easy hold in his first service game.
What the HELL is wrong with Nadal’s drop shots???!
It’s not just Rafa – I’ve lost count of how many players are using drop shots and messing up on them.
Until Jerzy fought his way to the final in Paris on the strength of his drop shots you hardly ever saw it being used. Now there is an epidemic of them. Not only is Rafa losing points by playing them poorly he is also being caught out time and time again by his opponents catching him out. In fact in his last few matches he has not even tried to get to them. Time was when his skill in this department was legendary.
vr,
I was asking myself the same question! 🙂
It will be a night match again tomorrow against Kyrgios. Damn
Maybe Rafa is better off at night considering he seems to suffer from the heat. He is Spanish so even though Spain is hot and sunny most of the time, the Spaniards don’t stay out in the sun much, they have a siesta in the hottest part of the day.
Damn is right! Just what Rafa needs against Kyrgios!