View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches Friday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia & vote for who you think will win!
Djokovic v del Potro | Nadal v Thiem | Raonic v Zverev | Cilic v Isner
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No. 2 seed and four-time winner Novak Djokovic along with No. 4 and seven-time champion Rafael Nadal headline the quarter-finals on Friday. They have accounted for 11 of the past 12 titles. The other quarter-finalists looking to break their dominance in Rome are No. 5 seed Milos Raonic, No. 6 Marin Cilic, No. 8 Dominic Thiem, No. 16 Alexander Zverev and unseeded John Isner and Juan Martin del Potro. Of the group, only Raonic has advanced past the QFs in Rome.
In the first men’s match on Centrale, #NextGenATP German star Zverev takes on Raonic for the first time. The 20-year-old Zverev is the youngest Rome quarter-finalist since Djokovic (19) in 2007. Zverev, who leads the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, is appearing in his third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season (Miami, Madrid). Raonic is the only player in the field yet to lose serve (holding 19 games) and he is attempting to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2014.
In the next match on, Thiem and Nadal square off for the third straight tournament and sixth time overall (Nadal leads 4-1). Nadal won the past two meetings on home soil in the Barcelona final (64 61) on April 30 and last Sunday in the ATP Masters 1000 Madrid final (76 64). Nadal comes in with a 17-match winning streak (33-2 in sets). The 30-year-old Spaniard is appearing in the quarter-finals for the 12th time in 13 years (except 2008) and he is 9-2 in QF matches, losing in this round in 2015 (l. to Wawrinka) and last year (l. to Djokovic). Thiem is back in the Rome quarter-finals for the second straight year and he saved three match points in his 36 63 76(7) win over Sam Querrey on Thursday. He is 7-21 lifetime against Top 10 opponents (1-3 this year). He is 1-4 in career ATP Masters 1000 QF matches, reaching his first Masters 1000 final last Sunday in Madrid.
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In the evening session, del Potro and Djokovic meet for the third time this season and 18th time overall (Djokovic leads 13-4, 2-0 on clay). Djokovic wont this year’s meetings in three-sets in Acapulco (2R) and ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (3R). The Argentine’s last win came in the 1R at the Rio Olympics last summer as he went on earn a silver medal (l. to Murray). Del Potro posted his first clay court Top 10 win since 2012 Roland Garros (d. Berdych in 4R) over No. 9 Kei Nishikori on Thursday. This is del Potro’s first QF in Rome since 2009 when he lost to the Serb. He is trying to reach his first ATP Masters 1000 SF since 2013 in Shanghai where he lost to Djokovic in the final. Djokovic is making his 11th straight quarter-final appearance in Rome and he is 7-3 in QF matches.
In the opening match on Next Gen Arena, Isner and Cilic battle it out for the eighth time (Cilic leads 6-1). Isner won the last meeting 64 63 in the semi-finals at ATP Masters 1000 Paris last November. The Croat won the previous clay match in two tie-breaks in the 2R at 2012 ATP Masters 1000 Madrid. Isner, who leads the tournament with 72 aces, is the first American to reach the Rome quarter-finals since Andy Roddick (SFs) and James Blake (QFs) in 2008. The 32-year-old American is the oldest player left and he has held serve 38 of 39 games this week. Cilic is appearing in the Rome quarter-finals for the first time since 2011 and after a slow start on hard courts (5-7), he has turned his game around on clay with an 8-2 record.
