Sports

Nadal powers into Italian Open third round

May 17, 2018 00:03·
Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem

"We're finally connecting and I think that's the most attractive thing", Fognini said of the crowd, which whistled him off the court following an erratic performance a few years ago.

Nadal will look to return back to winning ways after 21-match winning streak on the clay court and 50-set winning streak was broken by Austria's Dominic Thiem in their last-eight clash of the Madrid Open.

Elsewhere, Fabio Fognini was roared to victory by a partisan Italian crowd as he upset sixth seed Dominic Thiem. "I think I deserved it at the end". He was pumped today and playing at home and coming off a good win over (Gael) Monfils. "They finally understand me".

Djokovic, a four-time victor of the Italian Open, also had little trouble in his second round match, defeating Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 18 minutes.

But Nadal can take it back by winning in Rome and he set his stall out by blitzing Dzumhur 6-1 6-0 in an hour.

"I beat a top clay-courter", Fognini added.

"It's a loss which is not too painful, which is just motivating me for the next weeks", the Austrian said.

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Halep reached the final in Rome a year ago and needs to reach the quarter-finals this time to retain her world number one ranking. The victory not only allowed Halep to exact revenge on Osaka following their one-sided clash at Indian Wells, but ensured the Romanian retains her top ranking.

The former World No 1 needed to save four break points during a marathon seventh game but clinched a break of his own a couple of games later to go one set up.

"For some reason, I couldn't get a ball in the court after that, on my backhand side", Osaka said.

Instead of shaking hands with the umpire after the match, Pliskova first put her hand out before beating up the chair. "I'm more relaxed than in Madrid", said 26-year-old Halep.

Past year in Rome, Halep rolled her ankle in the final and lost a lead and the championship to Elina Svitolina. She could not hide her fury as she went on to lose the match 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

At 5-5 in the third, Pliskova got engaged in a lengthy argument after she had an overhead smash called out. On the next point, Sakkari converted a break then served it out.

Maria Sakkari upset sixth seed Karolina Pliskova in three sets with an impressive comeback, and Johanna Konta overcame Su-Wei Hsieh 6-0, 6-4.

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