Novak Djokovic’s love affair with Rome continued as the five-time champion picked up his 60th victory at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with a 6-3, 6-2 success over Aslan Karatsev on Tuesday.
However, women’s US Open champion Emma Raducanu was forced to retire from her first round against Bianca Andreescu, still struggling with a back injury that she picked up in Madrid last week.
Djokovic has never lost before the quarter-finals at the tournament and is now just three victories shy of joining the 1,000 match-wins club.
Photo: AFP
“He probably has the biggest calf we have in tennis. Very strong guy, just solid from the baseline,” Djokovic said of the 35th-ranked Karatsev. “You never know with him. If he’s feeling the ball, he can be very dangerous because he stays so close to the line, puts pressure on his opponents.”
Karatsev committed 36 unforced errors during the match and Djokovic made sure to capitalize on those mistakes.
“He was missing a lot of points today though — gave me a couple of breaks there in the first and second,” Djokovic said. “I’ll take this win for sure. It’s a straight-sets win against a quality opponent and I’m looking forward to the next challenge.”
In his record-extending 369th week as the world No. 1, Djokovic must reach at least the semi-finals in Rome to hold onto his top ranking and avoid being overtaken by Daniil Medvedev.
In the last 16, Djokovic is to face compatriot Laslo Djere or three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka.
Djokovic started with a break of serve on the way to a 2-0 lead, but Karatsev erased his deficit in no time to draw level.
The top seed upped the pressure to break again in the eighth game and closed out the set in style, showing off his volleying skills in front of a buoyant Rome crowd.
Djokovic raced to a 4-0 advantage in the second set and sealed the 90-minute victory on his first opportunity, to improve to 2-1 in his head-to-head against Karatsev.
Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas are to square off for the second time in seven days after the Bulgarian moved past American qualifier Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-4 in first-round action on Tuesday.
Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman saved two match points before seeing off Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), while British ninth seed Cameron Norrie saved four break points in his 6-4, 6-4 success over local wildcard Luca Nardi. He next faces former US Open champion Marin Cilic.
Raducanu’s retirement marked a disappointing end to a highly anticipated clash with Andreescu, another US Open champion.
Andreescu was up a set and a break, 6-2, 2-1, on Raducanu before the British 10th seed made the call to end the match.
After dropping serve twice in the opening set to trail Andreescu 2-5, Raducanu took an off-court medical timeout, but it was not enough and she had to pull out of the contest four games later.
A back injury also accounted for Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo who was leading Nuria Parrizas Diaz 6-1, 4-3 when she had to retire.
Parrizas Diaz and Andreescu are to meet in the second round.
Madrid finalist Jessica Pegula edged past world No. 25 Liudmila Samsonova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the second round.
A runner-up to Ons Jabeur in the Spanish capital on Saturday, 13th seed Pegula withstood 38 winners from the big-hitting Samsonova to set up a last-32 showdown with Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina.
Former French Open champion and No. 11 seed Jelena Ostapenko was sent packing by American qualifier Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-3 in just 1 hour, 10 minutes.
American world No. 32 Amanda Anisimova, a former Roland Garros semi-finalist, is to take on Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the next round after recovering from a second-set bagel to overcome Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th