Italian Open 2016: Friday's Rome Masters Tennis Scores, Results, Latest Schedule
Novak Djokovic had to draw on every sinew of his revered fortitude to beat Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open on Friday.
The Serb saved a whopping five set points on his way to a thrilling 7-5 7-6 (4) win in Rome, coming from a break down in both sets. Having conquered a much-improved Nadal, the top seed will face Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals.
Earlier in the day Andy Murray produced a stellar performance to down David Goffin 6-1, 7-5; he’ll take on France's Lucas Pouille in the last four.
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In the women’s draw, Serena Williams is safely through, making quick work of Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. She’ll face Irina-Camelia Begu in the last four, while third seed Garbine Muguruza will meet Madison Keys in the other semi. Here are the latest results from the day's action at the Rome Masters, as well as the upcoming schedule.
| Result | Score |
| (2) Andy Murray bt. (12) David Goffin | 6-1, 7-5 |
| Lucas Pouille bt. Juan Monaco | Walkover |
| (1) Novak Djokovic bt. (5) Rafael Nadal | 7-5, 7-6 (4) |
| (6) Kei Nishikori bt. (13) Dominic Thiem | 6-3, 7-5 |
| Result | Score |
| (3) Garbine Muguruza bt. (11) Timea Bacsinszky | 7-5, 6-2 |
| (1) Serena Williams bt. (9) Svetlana Kuznetsova | 6-2, 6-0 |
| Irina-Camelia Begu bt. Misaki Doi | 6-2, 7-5 (3) |
| Madison Keys bt. Barbora Strycova | 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 |
To access the full schedule for this year’s Italian Open, click here.
Friday Recap
Djokovic’s performance here was up there with his finest on clay, as he somehow found a way past a rejuvenated Nadal. As these figures from ESPN Stats & Info illustrate, at the moment the Serb seems to have an edge on his rival:
This match was extremely close, though. Nadal flew out of the traps, breaking Djokovic and taking a 4-2 lead. But the world No. 1 battled back gamely in the second half of the stanza, getting the match back on serve in the eighth game and edging in front at 6-5.
In the 12th game he carved out four set points before eventually taking a decisive advantage. As we can see here courtesy of BreatheSport, it was quite a way to win the set too:
"Best. Set point. Ever! #DjokovicNadal #RomeMasters https://t.co/evMDn2BlCm
— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) May 13, 2016"
The second followed a similar pattern, with Nadal again on top for much of the exchanges, grabbing an early break and forcing Djokovic to cling on.
Nadal had a chance to serve for the match at 5-4 and carved out five set points to level things up. But extraordinarily, his opponent saved them all and after battling to the first break point of the set, Djokovic struck in ultra-ruthless style, putting the match back on serve.
It was a momentum swing Nadal was unable to recover from and eventually he lost out in a tie-breaker. While the Spaniard will be left hugely frustrated by his efforts, BBC’s David Law thinks his performance bodes well for a thrilling Roland Garros:
"Winning against Nadal the ultimate challenge in sport," said Djokovic afterwards to Sky Sports, per Law. "He is in form, so this gives me confidence for the French Open."
Earlier on, Goffin had every right to be confident going into Friday's match with Murray after his startling performance against Tomas Berdych—he won 6-0, 6-0—and he broke the No. 2 seed to love to lead 1-0 in the opening set.
However, Murray bounced back in quite superb fashion, outmanoeuvring the less powerful Goffin in very windy conditions to win four games on the spin inside 20 minutes, per the Daily Mail's Mike Dickson:
Belgium's Goffin simply could not handle Murray, and the two-time Grand Slam winner broke again for 5-1 and duly served out the set in under half an hour.
TennisTV provided the opening-set statistics:
Having lost six games on the bounce, Goffin finally held his serve in the opening game of the first set and then broke Murray to lead 3-1.
However, after several attritional exchanges in the tricky conditions in Rome, Murray broke back and consolidated to tie things up at 3-3.
He then edged ahead for 4-3 after breaking Goffin again, only for the world No. 13 to draw back level after some stunning returning.
It looked to be too little, too late, though, as Murray broke Goffin to love to earn the chance to serve for the match, but the 12th seed found another gear from somewhere to force the match to 5-5 with some brilliant groundstrokes.
In a monster 11th game of the set—which ran for almost 10 minutes—Murray broke again after five deuces, and he finally saw out the match to seal his semi-final spot despite a mammoth effort from Goffin.
Williams looks a class above in the women's draw, as she raced past Kuznetsova in double quick time on Friday. The 21-time Grand Slam winner didn't have to get out of first gear in a one-sided opener, racing to a 6-2 win and keeping her opponent at arm's length.
As noted by Live Tennis, after another early break in the second set, things were looking bleak for the Russian:
"#SerenaWilliams hitting & moving beautifully. #Kuznetsova struggling to get inside the baseline. 6-2, 2-0 Serena. pic.twitter.com/N1et0uHZ1M
— Live Tennis (@livetennis) May 13, 2016"
Williams didn't take her foot off the gas either. Against an evidently demoralised opponent she continued to chase every ball, get every shot back with intensity and with a steely determination eventually took the second set by a 6-0 scoreline.
Begu is next for the American in the final four, although the woman most likely to halt Williams in this tournament is Muguruza. The Spanish star is outstanding on clay and after her 7-5, 6-2 win over Timea Bacsinszky, is still yet to drop a set in the tournament.
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