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Sports Desk: Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Open along with another former winner Alexander Zverev on Thursday as spectators returned to the stands for the first time in Italy.<\/p>\nSports Desk: Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Open along with another former winner Alexander Zverev on Thursday as spectators returned to the stands for the first time in Italy.<\/p>\n
Defending champion Djokovic needed just 70 minutes to sweep past Spain\u2019s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-1, with the Foro Italico venue filled to 25 percent of capacity for the first time amid the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not good, it was great. I missed the crowd,\u201d said the 33-year-old Djokovic.<\/p>\n
Nine-time champion Nadal had to save two match points against Canada\u2019s Denis Shapovalov in a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7\/3) battle over nearly 3hr 30min.<\/p>\n
Nadal will next play last week\u2019s Madrid Masters winner Zverev, the sixth seed, who needed nearly three hours to see off Japan\u2019s Kei Nishikori 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Nadal lost to Zverev, 24, in the Madrid quarter-finals last week with the German, also a former Italian Open winner, having beaten Djokovic in the 2017 final.<\/p>\n
Djokovic and Nadal have won 14 of the last 16 Rome titles between them, playing each other in the final five times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing today for me is recover physically,\u201d said 34-year-old Nadal, who has fallen early in two clay-court Masters tournaments in Monte Carlo and Madrid ahead of Roland Garros. \u2013 \u2018Like home\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
Djokovic, a five-time Rome winner, next plays Monte Carlo champion Stefano Tsitsipas who ended the run of home hope Matteo Berrettini 7-6 (7\/3), 6-2 in one hour and 36 minutes.<\/p>\n
It will be a rematch of last year\u2019s French Open semi-final which the Serbian won.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt always feels like home coming back to Rome,\u201d said Djokovic, who has never failed to reach the quarter-finals in his 15 appearances in the clay-court event.<\/p>\n
After losing his opening service game, Djokovic powered back with five breaks of serve to seal the win on his sixth match point.<\/p>\n
Spaniard Nadal will be making his 16th last-eight appearance in Rome. It will also be his 97th ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.<\/p>\n
Nadal trailed by 0-4 in the opening set, and 0-3 in the second.<\/p>\n
Shapovalov also broke for 3-1 in the third set but Nadal broke back immediately and held on despite two match points against him in the 12th game to force a tie-break.<\/p>\n
Nadal\u2019s experience in the high-pressure moments paid off against the 22-year-old who had beaten him in their first meeting in Montreal in 2017. \u2013 \u2018Extremely dangerous\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s Lorenzo Sonego kept home hopes alive, ousting fourth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem and next meets Russian Andrey Rublev.<\/p>\n
Sonego, ranked 33rd, won through 6-4, 6-7 (5\/7), 7-6 (7\/5) in a match which lasted over three hours 24min.<\/p>\n
American Reilly Opelka advanced to his second Masters 1000 quarter-final with a 7-6 (8\/6), 6-4 victory against in-form Russian Aslan Karatsev.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s tournament, world number one Ashleigh Barty set up a clash with \u201cextremely dangerous\u201d US teenager Coco Gauff for a place in the semi-final.<\/p>\n
The top-seeded Australian won 6-3, 6-3 against Russian Veronika Kudermetova after 17-year-old Gauff earlier ousted Madrid Open winner Aryna Sabalenka.<\/p>\n
Sabalenka shocked Barty, 25, in last weekend\u2019s Madrid final and the 2019 Roland Garros winner conceded she was wary of her first meeting with Gauff.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoco has shown that she loves to bring her best tennis against the players that challenge her the most,\u201d said Barty.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s extremely dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gauff, ranked 35th, reached her fourth quarter-final of the year with a 7-5, 6-3 win over world number four Sabalenka.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely feel I\u2019m more confident on the court in my shots and my decisions. I think it just comes with experience,\u201d said Gauff who became the youngest WTA title winner since 2004 two years ago in Linz.<\/p>\n
Fifth seed Elina Svitolina eased past former French Open and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-2 and next meets Poland\u2019s Iga Swiatek, the 15th seed.<\/p>\n
Six of the WTA\u2019s top 10 players have already exited the Foro Italico, including second seed Naomi Osaka, four-time Rome winner Serena Williams, Sofia Kenin and Petra Kvitova. Defending champion Simona Halep, the third seed, was forced to pull out with a calf injury in her second-round match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sports Desk: Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Open along with another former winner Alexander Zverev on Thursday as spectators returned to the stands for the first time in Italy. Defending champion Djokovic needed just 70 minutes to sweep past Spain\u2019s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-1, with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n