Juan Martin del Potro had the marble statues surrounding Stadio Pietrangeli reverberating on Thursday evening as the former World No. 4 outclassed seventh seed Kei Nishikori 7-6(4), 6-3, on one of the most picturesque courts in the tennis world at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. “It was amazing. It was like a soccer match for me. I enjoyed the crowd a lot. My feelings are the best when I get onto the court and the crowd is cheering for me. That's incredible for all the players,” said del Potro. “I have lots of support around the world and that’s special to me after all my wrist problems. I have been making a big effort to come back to tennis and they...
Top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers got their Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign off to a flying start on Thursday, moving into the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Joao Sousa and Fernando Verdasco. Kontinen/Peers scored the lone service breaks of each set at 6-5 to prevail in one hour and 27 minutes. They are looking to pick up their first ATP World Tour title since winning their first Grand Slam title this January at the Australian Open. Next up for Kontinen/Peers are fifth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, who continued their fine form with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Florin Mergea and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. Kubot/Melo have already won ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles this year in...
John Isner continued his outstanding form at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Friday, stunning third seed Stan Wawrinka 7-6(1), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. “I thought I played pretty well out there. I'm going out there against the No. 3 player in the world. Maybe I have a little bit less to lose than he does,” said Isner. “I went out there with the belief that if I played well and executed my game plan, I could walk off that court with a win. That's what happened today. I served well and took my chances when I had them. I was very happy with the performance.” The American improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Wawrinka to 3-1 and has...
Alexander Zverev, the #NextGenATP German, booked a place in his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season (also Miami, Madrid) on Thursday with victory over Italian favourite Fabio Fognini at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The 20-year-old Zverev silenced supporters at the Foro Italico with a performance of great maturity and efficiency in a 6-3, 6-3 win over 78 minutes. He will next face a fellow big-server, fifth seed Milos Raonic. Zverev, the No. 16 seed, controlled the pair’s first meeting – breaking once in the first set for a 3-1 lead, and later winning five straight games to 4-0 in the second set. Despite the best efforts of the Roman crowd, Fognini’s frustration was evident for all...
Juan Martin del Potro calls it his best week of the year after defeating Kei Nishikori to reach the Internazionali BNL d’Italia quarter-finals and looks ahead to playing Novak Djokovic. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.