Day 6 at the 2015 Rome Masters Open is what every tennis fan dreams about where you’ve got the Big Three tennis players in the quarter-finals with the possibility of Rafael Nadal going up against Roger Federer in the semi-finals. If they beat Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych, and Novak Djokovic could be playing against the winner of the match provided he takes out rising Japan tennis star Kei Nishikori. This is definitely a great day of tennis, and for those in Rome, even better.
I can only imagine what Andy Murray would have added to this mix if he hadn’t had to pull out of the Open due to exhaustion, but the probability of one of the three big ones coming to the finals if pretty certain. As the betting odds continue dropping for Nadal as he still struggles with his slump could make him a good bet for the 2015 French Open.
You can check out the full draw schedule below updated daily.
Djokovic, who is unbeaten on clay this year, goes up againstKei Nishikori in a mouth-watering clash, while Federer takes on the in-form Tomas Berdych and Nadal clashes with Stan Wawrinka. The other QF sees David Ferrer face off with David Goffin on Grandstand.
• DJOKOVIC’S WINNING STREAKS: Djokovic is trying to win 20-more consecutive matches for the fourth time in his career. He has won 19 matches in a row since his last loss to Federer in the Doha final. Here’s a look at his longest unbeaten runs:
Wins Year(s)
43 2010-11
28 2013-14
22 2012-13
Federer leads the way with seven 20+ winning streaks during his career, followed by Nadal (6), Lendl (4) and four players on three: Borg, McEnroe, Sampras and Djokovic himself. The longest unbeaten run in the Open Era belongs to Guillermo Vilas, who captured 46 wins in a row in 1977.
• NADAL ON COURSE: Nadal will be looking to take another step towards a 10th career final in Rome when he takes on Wawrinka for the first time since last year’s Australian Open final. The Spaniard’s reached the final here nine times in his 10 visits, winning the title a record seven times.
• FEDERER CHASING ELUSIVE CROWN: Rome is one of two ATP Masters 1000 titles still missing from Federer’s collection (along with Monte-Carlo). The Swiss is making his 15th appearance in the Italian capital – at no other tournament has he appeared more without winning the title. He has reached the final here three times: 2003 (l. to Mantilla), 2006 (l. to Nadal) and 2013 (l. to Nadal).
• ON THE RISE: Goffin will contest his first ATP Masters 1000 QF. The Belgian, who received a walkover from Murray in the previous round, is projected to rise to a career-high No. 18 on Monday. The highest ranked Belgian ever was Xavier Malisse, who reached No. 19 on August 12, 2002.
[pdf-embedder url=”http://movietvtechgeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-rome-masters-open-quarter-finals-draw-schedule.pdf”]
DAY 6 FEDEX ATP HEAD2HEADS
CENTRALE
[6] Tomas Berdych (CZE) vs [2] Roger Federer (SUI)
FedEx ATP Head2Head: Federer leads 13-6
• Berdych advanced to his fifth Rome QF with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Italian wild card Matteo Donati and a hard-fought 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2) defeat of home favourite Fabio Fognini.
• Berdych is now 30-0 against players ranked outside the Top 10 this season, with all eight of his losses coming against Top 10 opponents.
• Berdych is back at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the 10th time. He has reached three QFs here and one SF, with his final four run coming in 2013 (d. No. 1 Djokovic in QF; l. to Nadal).
• Berdych is aiming to reach his 19th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 SF.
• Berdych has reached at least the SF at seven of his eight tournaments this season. The only exception was a QF appearance at Indian Wells (l. to Federer).
• Berdych arrived in Rome fresh from a SF run in Madrid last week (d. Isner in QF – saved 1 MP; l. to Nadal). This week he returned to the Top 5 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
• Berdych also impressed at the opening three ATP Masters 1000 events of the season, advancing to a fourth career ATP Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo (l. to Djokovic), the SF in Miami (l. to Murray) and the QF at Indian Wells (l. to Federer).
• In February, Berdych advanced to the final in Rotterdam (l. to Wawrinka in 3 sets) and the SF in Dubai (l. to Djokovic in 3 sets).
• In the opening week of the season Berdych finished runner-up in Doha (l. to Ferrer) before putting together a SF run at the Australian Open, where he defeated world No. 3 Nadal in the QF, ending a 17-match losing streak against the Spaniard (l. to Murray).
• In 2014, Berdych finished in the Top 10 for the fifth year in a row, winning two titles – Rotterdam and Stockholm – in a career-best five finals.
• Federer overcame the challenge of Kevin Anderson in the 3R, defeating the South African 6-3, 7-5. The Swiss saw off Pablo Cuevas for the second time in three weeks in his opening match.
• Federer returns to Rome for the 15th time. He is still chasing a first title here, falling in the final three times: 2003 (l. to Felix Mantilla), 2006 (l. to Nadal) and 2013 (l. to Nadal).
• Last year Federer stumbled in his opening match at the Foro Italico, losing to Jeremy Chardy.
• Federer suffered an early exit in Madrid, falling to Nick Kyrgios in his opening match. It was the Swiss’ first loss to a player aged 20 or younger since defeat to Del Potro in the 2009 US Open final.
• After a 3R loss to Gael Monfils in Monte-Carlo, Federer bounced back by capturing an 85th career title in Istanbul earlier this month (d. Cuevas). Turkey became the 19th different country in which he has won an ATP World Tour title.
• Only two male players have won more titles than Federer (85): Connors (109) and Lendl (94).
• En route to his title in Istanbul, Federer became the seventh active player to hit 200 wins on clay.
• In January, Federer recorded his 1000th ATP match win in the Brisbane final (d. Raonic) before a shock 3R exit at the Australian Open (l. to Seppi).
• In February, Federer claimed his second title of the season in Dubai (d. Djokovic).
• In March, Federer advanced to the final of Indian Wells (l. to Djokovic).
• In 2014, Federer finished in the Top 2 for the 10th time, winning five titles including two ATP Masters 1000 crowns. Aged 33, he was the oldest player to finish in the Top 2 of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since 1973), and was the first to finish in the Top 10 for 13 years in a row (2003-2015) since Lendl (1980-1992). He also won a first Davis Cup title for Switzerland.
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs [5] Kei Nishikori (JPN)
FedEx ATP Head2Head: Djokovic leads 3-2
• Djokovic captured his 150th career clay-court win with a 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over Nicolas Almagro in his opening match. He followed with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Thomaz Bellucci, who had been bidding to become the first Brazilian to topple a World No. 1 since Gustavo Kuerten.
• Djokovic returns to Rome for the ninth time. He has now reached at least the QF here on all nine of his visits, winning the title in 2008 (d. Wawrinka), 2011 (d. Nadal) and 2014 (d. Nadal).
• Djokovic leads the ATP World Tour with a 32-2 match record and four titles this season. He has captured victories over eight different Top 10 players this season – has not yet faced Nishikori – and he leads the tour with an 11-1 record vs. Top 10 foes in 2015.
• Djokovic’s lone clay-court outing this year came in Monte-Carlo where he became the first player to capture the opening three ATP Masters 1000 events of the season. In the Principality, the Serb closed with three consecutive Top 10 wins over Marin Cilic, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych.
• Djokovic is in on a 19-match winning streak, which also includes his title runs in Indian Wells (d. Federer) and Miami (d. Murray). His victory at Indian Wells saw him become the 11th player in the Open Era to win 50 titles, surpassing Rod Laver and coach Boris Becker, who both finished their careers on 49. He now has 52 titles to his name.
• Djokovic has won 23 ATP Masters 1000 titles during his career, putting him level with Federer (23) and four short of Nadal (27). The trio rank in the Top 3 for titles won at this tournament level.
• In January, Djokovic became the first man in the Open Era to win fiveAustralian Open titles, defeating Murray in the final. It was his eighth Grand Slam crown, putting him level with Agassi, Connors, Lendl, Perry and Rosewall in eighth place on the all-time list for most major titles.
• Djokovic’s last defeat came against Federer in the Dubai final in early March. His only other loss this year came in the opening week of the season, falling to Ivo Karlovic in the Doha QF.
• Since falling to Nadal in last year’s Roland Garros final, Djokovic has posted a 23-2 record against fellow Top 10 players.
• Djokovic has won a 6-0 set on 10 separate occasions this season. This is the third time he has won 10-more 6-0 sets in a season, after posting 13 in 2011 and 14 in 2013.
• In 2014, Djokovic finished the season at No. 1 for the third time in four years, winning an ATP World Tour-high seven titles in eight finals. His season was highlighted by capturing a second Wimbledon crown, four ATP Masters 1000 titles and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.
• Nishikori clinched his 30th win of the season in his opening round, fending off Jiri Vesely 7-6(3), 7-5, before easing past Viktor Troicki 6-4, 6-3 for a spot in his first Rome QF.
• Nishikori is making just his second main draw appearance in Rome. He fell to Jeremy Chardy in the 2R in his only previous visit here in 2013.
• Nishikori is bidding to reach his sixth ATP Masters 1000 SF (5-2 record in QFs at this level).
• Nishikori’s eight-match winning streak on clay came to an end at the hands of Andy Murray in last week’s Madrid SF.
• Nishikori successfully defended his title in Barcelona earlier this month (d. Andujar). It was his ninth career crown and his second of 2015, having won in Memphis in February (d. Anderson).
• Nishikori rose to a career-high No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on March 2. He is the highest-ranked Asian player in ATP history. He has since dropped back down to No. 6.
• In 2014, Nishikori ended the season at a year-end best No. 5 after registering a career-high 54 wins. His year was highlighted by four titles and maiden final appearances at Grand Slam and ATP Masters 1000 level (US Open and Madrid).
• Djokovic and Nishikori’s respective coaches featured in Rome during their playing days. Boris Becker had a 15-6 career record in the Italian capital, reaching the final in 1994 (l. to Sampras) and the SF in 1985. Chang was 17-10 in Rome, reaching the SF in 1993 and the QF three times (1992, ‘95, ‘98). Becker holds a 5-1 lead in their head-to-heads.
[8] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) vs [4] Rafael Nadal (ESP)
FedEx ATP Head2Head: Nadal leads 12-1
• Wawrinka battled past Dominic Thiem 7-6(3), 6-4 to advance to the QF. In his opening match he needed three sets to edge past Juan Monaco, eventually prevailing 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
• Wawrinka returns to Rome for the 11th time. He finished runner-up here in 2008, posting Top 10 wins over No. 8 James Blake and No. 6 Andy Roddick(l. to Djokovic in 3 sets).
• Wawrinka captured the eighth and ninth titles of his career in Chennai (d.Aljaz Bedene) and Rotterdam (d. Berdych) either side of a SF appearance at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic).
• Wawrinka suffered early exits in both Indian Wells (l. to Haase in 2R) and Miami (l. to Mannarino in 3R) in March. He also fell to Dimitrov in both the 3R in Monte-Carlo and last week in Madrid.
• Coming into this week, Wawrinka hadn’t won back-to-back matches since Rotterdam in February.
• In 2014, Wawrinka finished in the Top 10 for the second year in a row at a year-end high No. 4. He captured his first Grand Slam crown at Australian Open (d. Nadal), first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo (d. Federer) and won the Davis Cup with Switzerland for the first time.
• Nadal eased through his opening match, dropping just two games in his victory over Marsel Ilhan, before overcoming John Isner’s challenge 6-4, 6-4. The big-serving American had come into the match having held in 84 consecutive service games, but Nadal broke him twice.
• Nadal has reached the Rome final in nine of his ten appearances, winning seven titles: 2005 (d. Coria), 2006 (d. Federer), 2007 (d. Gonzalez), 2009 (d. Djokovic), 2010 (d. Ferrer), 2012 (d. Djokovic) and 2013 (d. Federer). He has lost just three matches here.
• Nadal suffered his first defeat to Murray on clay in the Madrid final on Sunday. It was his fourth clay court defeat of the season. The last time he lost at least four matches on the surface in a single season was in his rookie campaign in 2003.
• Nadal dropped to No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday, putting him outside the Top 5 for the first time in a decade (No. 7 – May 2, 2005). That week the Top 10 were: 1) Federer, 2) Hewitt, 3) Roddick, 4) Safin, 5) Gaudio, 6) Henman, 7) Nadal, 8) Moya, 9) Agassi, 10) Nalbandian.
• Nadal has a 17-4 record on clay this season with his four losses coming against Djokovic (Monte-Carlo SF), Fognini twice (Rio de Janeiro SF and Barcelona 3R) and Murray.
• In February, Nadal won the 46th clay court title of his career in Buenos Aires (d. Monaco), and is now just three short of Guillermo Vilas’ record clay court title haul of 49. His victory in Argentina ended a nine-month trophy drought dating back to Roland Garros 2014 (d. Djokovic).
• In March, Nadal fell in the QF at Indian Wells (l. to Raonic after holding three MPs) and the 3R in Miami (l. to Verdasco).
• Nadal lost his opening match of the season, 1R in Doha (l. to Michael Berrer), before reaching the QF of the Australian Open (l. to Berdych).
• In 2014, Nadal finished in the Top 3 for the ninth time in the past 10 years (except 2012), capturing four titles in seven finals. The Spaniard extended his streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title per year to a record 10th year in a row with his ninth victory at Roland Garros. His 14 Slam titles are tied second all-time with Pete Sampras, behind Roger Federer(17).
GRANDSTAND
David Goffin (BEL) vs [7] David Ferrer (ESP)
FedEx ATP Head2Head: Ferrer leads 1-0
• Goffin edged past Italian qualifier Andreas Arnaboldi 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in his opening match before saving three MPs en route to a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 upset ofJo-Wilfried Tsonga. He then received a walkover from Andy Murray to reach an ATP Masters 1000 QF for the first time.
• Goffin is making his Internazionali BNL d’Italia debut.
• Goffin opened his season with a SF run in Chennai (l. to Wawrinka). He failed to go beyond the 2R at his next five tournaments – Sydney, Australian Open, Rotterdam, Marseille and Dubai – before advancing to the 4R in Miami (l. to Nishikori). He also reached the Munich QF two weeks ago (l. to Kohlschreiber),
• Goffin has a 1-16 record vs. Top 10 opponents with his lone win coming against No. 9 Milos Raonic en route to the final in Basel in October last year.
• In 2014, Goffin finished as his country’s highest-ranked player with a year-end high No. 22, rising 91 places from 2013. After compiling a 3-11 mark from January to the middle of July, he closed the season with a 22-4 record, winning his first ATP World Tour titles in Kitzbühel (d. Thiem in first ATP final featuring 2 players born in 90s) and Metz (d. Sousa). Won ATP Comeback Player of the Year.
• Ferrer hit 30 wins for the season with a 6-4, 7-5 defeat of Richard Gasquet in his opening match. He then cruised past compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-3 to reach the QF.
• Ferrer is making his 12th appearance in Rome. He has now reached at least the QF here six times (including this year), with his best result a runner-up showing in 2010 (d. No. 5 Murray, No. 10 Tsonga, No. 9 Verdasco; l. to Nadal).
• Ferrer has now reached at least the QF at 12 of his last 14 ATP Masters 1000 events, including four this year: Miami (l. to Djokovic), Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal), Madrid (l. to Nishikori) and Rome.
• Ferrer has won three titles this year, bringing his career haul to 24. He captured the Doha title in the opening week of the season (d. Berdych), before posting back-to-back tournament wins at the ATP 500 events in Rio de Janeiro (d. Fognini) and Acapulco (d. Nishikori). He became the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1985 to win back-to-back tournaments on two different surfaces.
• In 2014, Ferrer finished in the Top 10 for the fifth year in a row and sixth overall, reaching the QF or better 17 times, while clinching a lone title in Buenos Aires (d. Fognini).
Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal Interview: