Novak's Back and Stan Storms Through
Attention turned to some of the big guns on the second day of the Rome Masters, with fans keen to see how Novak Djokovic fared on his return from a wrist injury, and how the Australian Open champion would bounce back from his surprise loss to Dominic Thiem last week in Madrid. Here are the main talking points from the first set of second round match-ups:
Stanislas Wawrinka - With two significant titles to his name already this season, Wawrinka is amongst the favourites to challenge for the Roland Garros title on his favourite surface in a couple of weeks' time. In stark contrast to his shock defeat to young Austrian Dominic Thiem at this stage in Madrid, the 'Stanimal' bossed Spanish qualifier Pere Riba and earned rave reviews for a performance that saw him into the last 16 for the loss of just three games. Dropping just one point behind his first serve, the Swiss no. 1 will be looking to finalise his preparations for the French Open with a deep run at this event.
Milos Raonic - Raonic has impressed this year in his bid to establish himself as a top ten player, and his massive serve was particularly effective today as he hit 18 aces past Italian wildcard entrant Simone Bolelli. The Canadian no. 1 will vie for a place in the quarter-finals when he faces either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Kevin Anderson in the next round.
David Ferrer - The Spanish terrier dismissed Mikhail Kukushkin with ease in today's last match on the Grandstand court and is eyeing another deep run after already reaching the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Madrid this year. Ferrer will be favourite to progress to a potential last 8 clash with Novak Djokovic when he goes up against either Stephane Robert or Ernests Gulbis, who he defeated last week.
Philipp Kohlschreiber - Entering this event after back to back defeats to Denis Istomin in Munich and Marinko Matosevic in Madrid, Kohlschreiber will be relieved to have found some form this week ahead of Roland Garros. He made light work of 16th seed Tommy Robredo to set up a clash with Novak Djokovic in the last 16. The German took a set off the world no. 2 when they last met at the French Open last year.
Novak Djokovic - Some may have been looking on with interest as the Serb returned to action following a wrist injury, but ultimately, few eyebrows were raised when Djokovic dispatched Radek Stepanek in straight sets. It will be of some concern that he dropped serve three times against the Czech, and that's an area he'll have to improve if he wants to win the Internazionali BNL D'Italia for a third time.
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Milos Raonic - Raonic has impressed this year in his bid to establish himself as a top ten player, and his massive serve was particularly effective today as he hit 18 aces past Italian wildcard entrant Simone Bolelli. The Canadian no. 1 will vie for a place in the quarter-finals when he faces either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Kevin Anderson in the next round.
David Ferrer - The Spanish terrier dismissed Mikhail Kukushkin with ease in today's last match on the Grandstand court and is eyeing another deep run after already reaching the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Madrid this year. Ferrer will be favourite to progress to a potential last 8 clash with Novak Djokovic when he goes up against either Stephane Robert or Ernests Gulbis, who he defeated last week.
Philipp Kohlschreiber - Entering this event after back to back defeats to Denis Istomin in Munich and Marinko Matosevic in Madrid, Kohlschreiber will be relieved to have found some form this week ahead of Roland Garros. He made light work of 16th seed Tommy Robredo to set up a clash with Novak Djokovic in the last 16. The German took a set off the world no. 2 when they last met at the French Open last year.
Novak Djokovic - Some may have been looking on with interest as the Serb returned to action following a wrist injury, but ultimately, few eyebrows were raised when Djokovic dispatched Radek Stepanek in straight sets. It will be of some concern that he dropped serve three times against the Czech, and that's an area he'll have to improve if he wants to win the Internazionali BNL D'Italia for a third time.
For updates on the blog, follow @TennisFanatic7 on Twitter, thanks for reading!
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