Rafael Nadal headlines a blockbuster day at the Rome Masters, as he goes up against talented Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Meanwhile, Stefanos Tsitsipas battles home favorite Matteo Berrettini for a place in the quarterfinals.
(2) Rafael Nadal vs. (13) Denis Shapovalov
Rafael Nadal appears to be doing what he’s done nearly every year of his storied professional career; he’s working himself into the best clay version of himself just in time for the French Open. The Spaniard, who captured his first title of the year in Barcelona, faced a red-hot Jannik Sinner in his first match in Rome on Wednesday. He played what was likely his best match of the season to advance 7-5, 6-4.
Denis Shapovalov does have a win over Nadal, but it was at home on the hard courts of the Canadian Open. The only time they played on clay (Rome 2018), Shapovalov absorbed an old-fashioned drubbing. Based on how his clay season is going, he might eat another tomorrow. The Canadian won a pair of matches this week to earn his third-round spot, but victories over Kamil Majchrzak and Stefano Travaglia won’t do much to prepare him for Nadal on clay.
With Nadal displaying some of his best tennis against Sinner on Wednesday, anything other than a straight-set win over Shapovalov would be a surprise.
Cheryl pick: Nadal in 2
Ricky pick: Nadal in 2
(5) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (9) Matteo Berrettini
Perhaps the most interesting match of the day on a loaded docket is the showdown between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini. Tsitsipas has shown some of the best clay-court tennis of his career so far in 2021, and he has his first Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo to show for his efforts.
Berrettini is playing nearly as well as Tsitsipas. He just made the final in Madrid last week (lost to Alexander Zverev) and he won the title in Belgrade the week before. Berrettini will have the added benefit of playing in front of an Italian crowd tomorrow, as fans are permitted in at 25 percent capacity.
This one should be a cracker. The crowd will be firmly in Berrettini’s corner, but the Italian has played a lot of tennis in the past few weeks. Fatigue may be a concern if the match drags out into three sets. Tsitsipas won’t have the fans in his corner, but he comes in more rested because he lost early in Madrid.
Cheryl pick: Tsitsipas in 3
Ricky pick: Tsitsipas in 2
Nadal in 2
Tsitsipas in 3
Karatsev was out of this world. He’ll be heading inside the top 10 very soon if he stays healthy.
Karatsev flunked the Reilly test today. I didn’t see the match, just surprised to see the results.
Will be interesting to see if Sinner reaches my predicted ranking of just outside the top 10 (10-12) by the end of this year as well.
WWW?
You guys are on fire. After a string of losses you’ve certainly redeemed yourselves.
Actually it was just the few on Berrettini.
Shapo off to a flyer..
Definitely, how good will it be if he wins. They know they have a physical edge, makes a huge difference.
They probably read it here straight from the pro also. š
Avoid a bagel rafa…
Wow.. in a matter of 12 hrs rafa has gone from goating to this..
Shapo is Nadal v2.
Rafa very flat today.. no vamos after that set point saveš he is there for the taking today
Good job by Rafa to take the set to 60 mins long considering it was 4-0 to shapo after 16 mins.. but broken thrice in a set.. sheesh
yeah, no spark in Rafa today…Shapovalov is hitting hard and running like crazy…a wining formula against Rafa in 2 sets..the thing is, they can hardly sustain this level in GS and Rafa is more motivated and more focused when playing RG…this will probably be won by Shapo..still, no indication of Rafa’s level at RG…we shall see…
Yeah but this will probably be the first time in a full season that Rafa will have to win rg without winning a masters that year
Will Rafa play another tourney considering rg is 3 weeks away
He’s looking alright Rafa. At 35 he is still a beast on clay.
Broken again!!!
Shapo is absolutely creaming it
Dennis killing Rafa today .. can he bring the sinner form
In this form Rafa will keep his perfect rg final record considering it is highly unlikely he will make the final
Wonder if Ricky is starting to have his doubts now. I get the feeling he was still finding excuses for Nadal until now…
Wow.. never seen rafa so flat when down in a clay match since the 2015 rg qf