World number one Rafa Nadal acclaimed Novak Djokovic as the man to beat at the French Open after losing to the Serbian in straight sets on clay for the second time in a week at the Rome Masters on Sunday.
Clay master Rafa Nadal tamed big-serving American John Isner 7-5, 6-4 to claim a place in the last eight of the Madrid Open on Thursday and was joined by Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
Rafael Nadal rediscovered his clay court form after a rare wobble in the semi-finals to beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2, in Sunday's rain-hit final and claim his fifth Rome Masters title in six years.
Rafael Nadal overcame a stern challenge from Ernests Gulbis to reach the Rome Masters final on Saturday, prevailing 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 after the Latvian had exposed chinks in the clay master's armour.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy crashed out of the ATP Rome Masters after being handed a straight-set defeat by the seventh seeded Polish-Austrian pair of Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach in the quarter-finals in Rome.
Rafael Nadal showed his ruthless streak to overcome an early test from Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in a 6-4, 6-1 win on Friday and helped Spain to secure three of the four semi-final spots at the Rome Masters.
A ruthless Rafael Nadal demonstrated that he was primed to win back the French Open crown from Roger Federer when he whipped Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 6-3 in his opening match at the Rome Masters. A day after the world number one had been felled at the first hurdle by Latvian Ernests Gulbis, Nadal left Kohlschreiber a punched out wreck on Wednesday as he began his charge towards a fifth Rome title in six years.
Rafa Nadal kept alive his chances of ending his 11 month title drought by taming tenacious Argentine David Nalbandian 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday.
Russian second seed Maria Sharapova pulled out of Saturday's Italian Open semi-final with Serb title holder Jelena Jankovic because of injury, organisers said. In the final, fourth seed Jankovic will meet the winner of the match between Russian sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze and 18-year-old French qualifier Alize Cornet.
World number one Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from next week's Madrid Open for a second consecutive year to rest before the Rome Masters and the French Open, organisers of the clay Masters event said on Wednesday.
Novak Djokovic sounded the alarm over the packed ATP calendar after the withdrawal of two opponents helped him reach the final of the Rome Masters.
Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka entered the final of the Rome Masters when Andy Roddick retired injured in the fourth game.
World number one Rafael Nadal overcame stubborn early resistance from defending champion Novak Djokovic to claim a record fourth Rome Masters title with a 7-6, 6-2 win on Sunday. The result also meant Djokovic would surrender the number three spot in the world rankings to Andy Murray on May 11 even though the 21-year-old Scot lost his opening match in Rome to Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco.
Holder Novak Djokovic took advantage of Roger Federer's slump after a rain break to reach the Rome Masters final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win on Saturday. Second seed Federer, yet to win a title this year, looked to be cruising when leading 6-4, 2-1 before rain stopped play for about an hour.
Top seed Rafael Nadal overcame fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3 at the Rome Masters on Friday while Roger Federer beat German qualifier Mischa Zverev 7-6, 6-2 to book a semi-final with holder Novak Djokovic. Serb Djokovic eased through with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro. Nadal next faces Chilean 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez, a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic breezed past misfiring Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-1 to reach the Rome Masters quarter-finals on Thursday. World number two Roger Federer had to work only slightly harder to progress with a 6-4, 6-1 win over 16th seed Radek Stepanek and avenge the quarter-final defeat he suffered against the Czech here last year.
Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and unseeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka will meet in the final of the Rome Masters on Sunday after their semi-final opponents retired injured on Saturday. Serbian third seed Djokovic went through after unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek, pulled out when 6-0 1-0 down while Wawrinka made the final after American sixth seed Andy Roddick withdrew at 3-0 down in the first set because of a back injury.
World number one Roger Federer beat Croatia's Ivo Karlovic 7-6, 6-3 in the Rome Masters on Thursday to book a quarter-final against Czech Radek Stepanek.
World number six Andy Roddick has pulled out of next week's French Open due to a problem with his back, his brother John Roddick said on Monday at the World Team Cup in Duesseldorf.
The world number one was the second big gun of the day to fall to an unseeded player at the Rome Masters after his Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka beat American James Blake.
Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic beat Belgium's Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-0 in the second round of the Rome Masters on Wednesday, while top-10 seeds David Nalbandian and David Ferrer were knocked out.
Roger Federer will face his bogeyman Guillermo Canas in the second round of the Rome Masters after the Argentine beat Italian wildcard Gianluca Naso 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.
The Indian Wells tennis tournament was set to start on Tuesday, attracts the game's top players from both the men's and women's sides and drew a record 475,000 fans over its two-week run last year. It was cancelled over concerns about the spread of a coronavirus in Southern California.
Top seed Rafael Nadal swept aside Swede Robin Soderling 6-1, 6-0 at the Rome Masters on Thursday to book a quarter-final with fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco while Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer also had easy wins. Holder Djokovic breezed past 13th seed Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-1 to set up a last-eight clash with Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro and Federer beat the number 16 seed Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-1 to avenge last year's defeat here by the Czech.
Andy Murray's Rome Masters campaign floundered at the first hurdle when he lost 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco on Wednesday. Roger Federer, who like Murray had a bye into round two, had a much easier time and eased into the third round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ivo Karlovic.
A red hot Rafael Nadal ended a seven-match losing streak against Novak Djokovic in emphatic fashion by thrashing the world number two 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final of the Madrid Open and move within a step of a third consecutive clay-court title.
Argentine tennis player Juan Martin Del Potro has revealed that he was robbed at a Paris railway station with thieves getting away with his cherished rosary that was blessed by Pope Francis.
Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis progressed through to the quarter-finals of the Italian Open with a straight sets victory in the women's doubles event in Rome.
Fernando Gonzalez came back from a set down to beat Ivan Ljubicic 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and reach the final of the China Open.
World number one Novak Djokovic fended off a resurgent Rafael Nadal 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a pulsating battle on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Italian Open.
Mischa Zverev took some of the limelight back from younger brother Alexander when he beat second seed Kei Nishikori to reach the Geneva Open final on Friday.
They went out of the title race at Rome Masters series following their loss to the sixth-seed pair of Fabrice Santoro and Ninad Zimonjic.
The world No 2 survived one of the toughest battles in his long claycourt winning streak to set up a meeting with Fernando Gonzalez.
The world number two, whose victory took his winning streak on clay to 75 matches, went through to a semi-final against fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko at the Rome Masters.
Roger Federer slumped to a 6-2, 6-4 defeat against Italian wild card Filippo Volandri in the last 16.
The world number two launched his campaign for a third successive Rome Masters title with a below-par win over Italian wild card Daniele Bracciali.
Novak Djokovic scraped past Robin Soderling 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 at the Rome Masters.
Roger Federer began his bid for a first Rome Masters crown with an efficient 6-3 6-4 win over Nicolas Almagro on Tuesday.
Marcos Baghdatis swept aside Carlos Moya 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the Rome Masters.
Roger Federer once again conceded defeat to arch-rival Rafael Nadal when he and his fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka lost to Nadal and Carlos Moya.
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