Nadal and Murray Roll in Rome Openers

May 13, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Nadal_Crop_02_1
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal cruised into the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday, rolling past Turkey’s Marsel Illhan 6-2, 6-0. Nadal needed just 74 minutes to defeat Illhan. He dominated on serve, winning 92 percent of his first service points and saved the only two break point chances he allowed.

“I am playing better,” said Nadal who is still looking for his top form in 2015. “I need to confirm that with results, and I did that last week. I haven’t played two weeks in a row at the right level yet, but today was a good start. I am happy for that.”

Nadal moves on to play American John Isner a winner over Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 7-6(6), 6-4 on Wednesday, firing 11 aces and losing just 11 service points to cruise in straight sets.

Third-seeded Andy Murray had no problems in his Rome opener, defeating France’s Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-3. The Scot improves to 10-0 on clay this season and is looking to build on titles in Munich and Madrid.

“My legs were a bit tired at the beginning. But then I started to feel better after the first few games,” said Murray. “For me, I felt like I played a really good match. He served big for the first set and a half. It was tough for me. But I hung in; I felt like I moved pretty well and I served well throughout the match. I was happy with the way I adjusted to the conditions. I felt like I moved well and made it difficult for him to win free points.”

Murray moves on to play the winner of the match between 13th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and David Goffin.

There were two minor upsets in Rome on Wednesday as Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci and Italy’s Fabio Fognini took out seeded players in the second-round.

Bellucci came back from a bad first set to defeat 14th seed Roberto Bautista-Agut 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 and move on. He advances to play top-seed Novak Djokovic.

Fognini battled 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov for two tough sets before bageling the Bulgarian in the third for a 7-6(9), 4-6, 6-0 victory. Fognini will take on sixth-seed Tomas Berdych in the third-round.

Kei Nishikori edged Jiri Vesely 7-6(3), 7-5 to advance on Wednesday. The fifth-seed from Japan will take on the winner of 11th seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez and Serbia’s Viktor Troicki.

Second-seed Roger Federer will be in action later today in Rome when he faces off against Pablo Cuevas. 


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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