Nadal cruises past Isner to advance in Rome
No. 3 seed will next face Canadian Shapovalov
Rafael Nadal breezed past John Isner 6-3, 6-1 to move to the third round of the Italian Open on Wednesday.
Nadal, the No. 3 seed, has won the tournament 10 times. He now has a 69-7 match record in Rome.
The match turned at 3-3 in the first set when Isner couldn't convert two break opportunities and then saw Nadal break his serve in the next game to take a 5-3 lead and serve out for the set.
“He had some chances on the return and had two break points. (He had) two not-difficult balls, so I was in his hands at that moment,” Nadal said. “I was lucky that he missed those shots and then I was able to break. Then the match changed, of course. With the first set on the board, and having the break in the first game of the second (set), everything changed.”
The master on clay courts, Nadal is continuing his preparation for the French Open, which begins May 22. He lost in the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open last week to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz, a fellow Spaniard.
Nadal moved to 44-0 in contests following a defeat on clay. He made only three unforced errors.
Next up for Nadal is Canadian Denis Shapovalov, the 13th seed.
The No. 2 seed, Alexander Zverev of Germany, faced a test from qualifier Sebastian Baez of Argentina in a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win. Zverev hit 28 winners compared to 19 for Baez.
In the third round, he will face Alex de Minaur of Australia, who defeated Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-4.
No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece fought off two match points in the third set to defeat Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (4).
Next up for Tsitsipas is Russian Karen Khachanov, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 winner over 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.
Two other seeds also fell on Wednesday. Marcos Giron ousted 12th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-1, 7-6 (4), while Marin Cilic of Croatia topped Carmeron Norrie of Great Britain, the ninth seed, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
Swiatek eases into Italian Open last-16
Champion Iga Swiatek breezed past Romania's Elena-Gabriela Ruse with a 6-3, 6-0 victory to move into the Italian Open last-16 while Switzerland's Jil Teichmann ended Karolina Pliskova's run of reaching three successive Rome finals with a 6-2 4-6 6-4 win on Wednesday.
Canadian Bianca Andreescu is heading to the third round after defeating Spain's Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3, 7-6(4). But Canadian Leylah Fernandez lost 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2) to Daria Kasatkina of Russia.
World No. 1 Swiatek, who was given a bye into the second round, extended her winning run to 24 matches after converting seven break points to wrap up the match in just 68 minutes.
The Pole, who comes back after skipping the Madrid Open due to a shoulder injury, next faces former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, who cruised past Colombia's Camila Osorio 6-2 6-4.
Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who became the first African player to win a WTA 1000 title in Madrid over the weekend, also moved to the next round after beating Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5 6-2.
Jabeur will next face Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva, who knocked out eighth seed Garbine Muguruza in a hard-fought 3-6 7-6(4) 6-1 victory.
Osaka breaks from IMG to start sports agency
Four-time major winner Naomi Osaka is breaking away from IMG to launch her own sports agency, Evolve, according to media reports on Wednesday.
The four-time Grand Slam champion's longtime agent Stuart Duguid has also left IMG to start up the new agency with the 24-year-old from Japan. Former world No. 1 Osaka appeared to confirm the news by retweeting an article about the move. She also tweeted out a compilation of clips from her earlier playing days. In one of the clips, she discussed what she might be doing were she not a tennis player. “I just like sports, so maybe (I would be) like an agent in the end,” she said.