Rome Masters 1000 match thread

[lydian]

So off we go again and Madrid isn't even done yet!

The home of gladiatorial sport sees the leading claycourters lock battle once again to the wonderful tree-lined backdrop. Rome Masters has been going since 1930 and seen many illustrious winners down the years including, some may not know, the current coach of Stanislas Wawrinka - Magnus Norman back in 2000 who beat none other than Gustavo Kuerten.



Can Nadal win his 7th title? Can Novak win his 3rd? Can Andy break his clay final duck? Can Roger get to another final...he's never won in Rome although held MPs in 2006.

It seems Rome always gives us great matches and interesting player arguments too!

Here's the interactive draw:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Share/Event-Draws.aspx?EventId=416&Year=2013

[lydian]

Rosol has just lost in the final round of qualifying, that must be a bitter pill to swallow having won his first clay title a couple of weeks back. Despite a ranking of 33 he couldn't make it into the main draw of 56 players - thats really ridiculous!

Other guys, just outside the draw, e.g. David Goffin with mid-50s ranking, have instead chose to enter Challengers next week. That's the gamble you have to take with Masters...risk qualifying or enter lower event.

[ryan86]

I wondering about that lydian regarding Rosol when I noticed he was playing the qualifying. I'm guessing that the players have to enter in advance he was too low to get direct entry and the Italians want to give all their willdcards to their countrymen.

[lydian]

Yes must be Ryan given he won that ATP title on Apr 28. That's tough on him for sure. Anyway...back to Madrid!

[Cogen]

Just looked at the draw. Once again Ferrer has been drawn in the same quarter as Nadal. That of course means that the number 4 seeding at the French Open is now entirely in Nadal's hands. All he has to do is win the title, eliminating Ferrer in the process, and he'll be #4.

If Ferrer had been in another quarter, he could have reached the semi's and stopped Nadal from taking the spot. The only way to stop Nadal now is to beat him, or to pray someone else like Djokovic can take him out!

[CAS]

be nice to see a Roger Andy clay match up, I have a feeling we could see it this week

[lydian]

Lol Cogen.."All" Rafa has to do is win.
Well at least he has a chance of #4 seeding.

Good straights win for Dimi today.

[invisiblecoolers]

SO Roger Federer has Tommy Haas/ Dimitrov in early rounds, thats interesting. , if baby Fed beats the Grandpa Fed it will clearly signal the breath of new era of generation.

[Gerry SA]

be nice to see a Roger Andy clay match up, I have a feeling we could see it this week

If Murray can only muster one win on the faster courts in Monte Carlo and Madrid, he'd have no chance on the very slow courts in Rome

[The Special Juan]

SO Roger Federer has Tommy Haas/ Dimitrov in early rounds, thats interesting. , if baby Fed beats the Grandpa Fed it will clearly signal the breath of new era of generation.

It's not Baby Fed anymore, iy's now "Old Dimi"

[The Special Juan]

Laura's in action tomorrow against Venus. They must be pretty close in the rankings these days so it should be a great match. I'll call it now - if Laura's serve works, she wins (but then again, we can say that about Laura v most players).

[TorturedGenius]

SO Roger Federer has Tommy Haas/ Dimitrov in early rounds, thats interesting. , if baby Fed beats the Grandpa Fed it will clearly signal the breath of new era of generation.

Well I just hope the baby Fed doesn't eat the Grandpa Fed's porridge, because that will make mummy and daddy Fed very cross.

[laverfan]

SO Roger Federer has Tommy Haas/ Dimitrov in early rounds, thats interesting. , if baby Fed beats the Grandpa Fed it will clearly signal the breath of new era of generation.

Well I just hope the baby Fed doesn't eat the Grandpa Fed's porridge, because that will make mummy and daddy Fed very cross.

It is wonderful to see you TG. (Welcome to 606v2 - it has been a long and winding road for you from BBC 606 to 606v2).

[TorturedGenius]

Hi Laverfan,

Yes, good memories of BBC 606... Ahhh, good times.

I check back to these boards occasionally, I must say kudos to you guys on running it, layout and general organization are terrific (dare I say superior even to the BBC..). Will try to contribute a little more from now on

[LuvSports!]

atm fognini winning the battle of the italians, leading 6-4 4-0!

matches in play: JJ and klizan a set up in their matches

and wins today for gulbis!!! over niemenen, paire!! over monaco, cilic over golubev, ramos over hajek, kusnetsov over malisse and starace over stepanek.

[laverfan]

Will try to contribute a little more from now on

Music to my ears, TG.

[Silver]

Oof, got hammered in the picks today. Kei had better win to redeem my lackluster prediction skills!

Great win for Fognini, though I'm quite surprised that Seppi got beaten so easily - anyone remember his truly epic match against Wawrinka here last year? The crowd was going bananas towards the end, it was like a football match.

Welcome to the forum TG

[The Special Juan]

Come on Kohli, take the second set with efficiency!!

[ryan86]

Silver, I actually looked at today picks and there was nothing that I felt safe doing. I had thought of going for Gulbis over Nieminen, but the rest of the matches (excluding the 3 that had already started didn't fill me with confidence)

[The Special Juan]

Wow, that final was amazing!! I wonder who was more solid at an early age; Nadal or Monfils?

[ALPanorak]

Nishikori just played a real nice first set of tennis there (6-2) - i think he can and will beat Murray on current form should they meet as expected...

[ryan86]

I take it Rosol got a Lucky Loser. Goes to check when he'll meet Nadal.

EDIT: Oooh, possible 3rd Round match. Rosol needs to beat Troicki and Gulbis; Nadal needs to get past Fognini.

[laverfan]

I take it Rosol got a Lucky Loser. Goes to check when he'll meet Nadal.

Not in Rome 2013.

EDIT: Oooh, possible 3rd Round match. Rosol needs to beat Troicki and Gulbis; Nadal needs to get past Fognini.

Rosol 13-8
Troicki 9-12
Gulbis 17-6

My prediction is Rosol d Troicki, Gulbis d Rosol, Nadal d Fognini -> Nadal v Gulbis.

[Silver]

Nice to see Gasquet and Dimitrov scheduled on Centrale today, they're on just before Novak's match. Perhaps recognising the stir that Dimi is causing amongst fans? If he can beat Gasquet today, it'll be another big statement - Reechard's no mug on any surface, and is having a good YTD.

Silver, I actually looked at today picks and there was nothing that I felt safe doing. I had thought of going for Gulbis over Nieminen, but the rest of the matches (excluding the 3 that had already started didn't fill me with confidence)

Same here, and even today there are a lot of iffy ones. I guess coming off the back of a fairly unpredictable Madrid makes it a bit trickier. All these Italian wildcards are making me nervous!

[lydian]

I'm really hoping we get Nadal v Rosol and Dimitrov v Federer.

[LuvSports!]

yes to the latter, no to the former . I want the legend of rosol to live on forever!

[lydian]

Indeed - do you think Nadal might be just ever so slightly motivated for that rematch?

[bogbrush]

I'm really hoping we get Nadal v Rosol and Dimitrov v Federer.

Dimi / Fed needs to happen, and soon. But not on this; let's see it at Cincinnatti, or Wimbledon for symbolic reasons.

[Haddie-nuff]

Indeed - do you think Nadal might be just ever so slightly motivated for that rematch?

Cant imagine why you would think that Lydian

[lydian]

lol Haddie...the chances are they will meet again somewhere, and Nadal will be 100% focused for sure

Like BB says...Fed/Dimi plus Nad/Rosol needs to happen at Wimb.

Still strikes me as an odd coincidence with the Sampras-Federer-Dimitrov numbers.

Birthdates of 1971, 1981, 1991.
1st won Wimb 1993, 2003... so 2013? (unlikely but who knows...)

[Haddie-nuff]

Oh wow... what a mind boggling thought... I have great belief in the power of numbers... like you say "unlikely" but hey so was Boris Becker !!!

Cant wait !!!!!

[The Special Juan]

This Volandri-Simon match is great fun. Surprisingly, it's full of shot making (although Gilles has only "made" one shot).

[Mad for Chelsea]

Benneteau beating Almagro is a bit of a surprise

[lydian]

Just shows how up/down Almagro is.

Troicki/Rosol at 1 set all.

Chardy (just), Youznhy and Verdasco all through.

The showcase Dimitrov/Gasquet match is about to start. Hard to pick a winner.

[The Special Juan]

Laura's up to 39 as it stands.

[Haddie-nuff]

Dimitrov oh dear

[Haddie-nuff]

Oh wow... what a mind boggling thought... I have great belief in the power of numbers... like you say "unlikely" but hey so was Boris Becker !!!

Cant wait !!!!!

Oh dear maybe not this year then !!!!!

[The Special Juan]

I'm surprised the scoreline was that close. Dimitrov was just woeful, so much so that Gasquet's B game was enough in the end.

[Silver]

This is the thing, it's that consistency to challenge the upper echelons that he's lacking. I've no doubt that an intensive fitness regimen will help that, but...

In fairness, Gasquet is the #9 so it's tough ask.

[The Special Juan]

After Cilic makes another early round exit, when will Croatia regret making the choice to play their Davis cup tie on clay?

[laverfan]

Come on Potito! Make Federer sweat.

[Silver]

Yikes. Has Rog got to look after the kids tonight, or something?

[CAS]

this is more like it, Grandpa Dimitrov is moving around so fast and looks so up for this.

[Silver]

If he's playing himself back into form, there could be a surprise sprung at RG yet. I seem to remember the media counting Fed out in 2011, and look what happened there - he seems to perform very well when he has a point to prove.

Not that a win over Starace means much, and I'm definitely not hyping him for a title win just yet! But if Fed's hungry and motivated then it can only be good for his prospects at Rome.

[CAS]

I agree, the loss to Gasquet in Rome after a few routine losses to Novak and Rafa it didn't look good, then in Paris he played the best clay court tennis he has ever played

[break_in_the_fifth]

Feds back to his 2006 levels now.

[Jahu]

Fed was magical, all over in 50 minutes.

[break_in_the_fifth]

nice dropshots from starace to hold serve in the second set.

[The Special Juan]

This is the match isn't it? Break, break, break....

[Silver]

Who the hell hits 35 winners in a match that only lasts 15 games? And on clay no less.

Looking forward to play tomorrow

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