David Ferrer was truly on fire today at the 2015 Rome Masters Open and took it out on Frenchman Richard Gasquet in only two sets 6-4, 7-5. The Spanish tennis star has been keeping at the bottom of the Top 10 tennis rankings, but if Rafael Nadal continues his slump, he could surpass him into the 7th place spot if he continues playing like he did on Tuesday. This was Ferrer’s ninth win out of 12 matches with Gasquet.
The Spaniard converted three of his eight break points as he claimed his 30th win of the season in 90 minutes. Ferrer is a winner of three ATP World Tour titles in 2015, lifting the trophy in Doha (d. Berdych), Rio de Janeiro (d. Fognini) and Acapulco (d. Nishikori).
The 33-year-old Ferrer has a 19-11 record at the Foro Italico, finishing runner-up in 2010 (l. to Nadal) and reaching the semi-finals in 2005 and 2012 (l. to Nadal both times).
Sixth seed Tomas Berdych cruised into the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Italian wild card Matteo Donati in 75 minutes. The Czech, who this week returned to the Top 5 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, did not face any break points on serve.
Berdych has reached the quarter-finals or better at all eight of his tournament appearances this season, including runner-up finishes in Doha, Rotterdam and Monte-Carlo. In the third round, he awaits the winner between 10th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and top Italian Fabio Fognini, who face off for a third straight Masters 1000 tournament.
Kevin Anderson, the No. 15 seed, led Philipp Kohlschreiber 3-0 in the opening set when the recent Munich finalist retired with an elbow injury. The South African will next play either Roger Federer or Pablo Cuevas, who met a couple weeks ago in the Istanbul final.
Kyrgios/Sock Win On Debut
With Vasek Pospisil nursing a sprained ankle, Jack Sock took the opportunity to join forces with Nick Kyrgios in Rome and the young guns combined for a 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 victory over Lukas Rosol and Gilles Simon in 65 minutes.
Victory earned the Australian/American duo a second-round clash withAustralian Open champions and home favourites Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini, who were invited to meet the Italian Prime Minister at the weekend.
Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah reunited this week, after Farah was sidelined briefly with an arm injury, and instantly returned to winning ways with a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Paolo Lorenzi and Luca Vanni. The Colombians, champions in Sao Paulo earlier this year, go on to face seventh seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares.