Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Paula Badosa were eliminated in the round of 16 at the Rome Open and left the Italian capital without Spanish representation on the day the quarter-final matches were set.
Worrying night for Spanish tennis, which saw how the two representatives who remained alive in the tournament said goodbye. Also consecutively and on the same track, in a row.
Nadal couldn’t do more. He returned to the level he showed before a rib injury kept him off the pitch for almost two months and beat Shapovalov in the first set with a resounding 6-2. But his chronic foot injury came to light which made him unable to perform as an elite athlete.
Still, he fought back and held the tie in the second set until the end, when the Canadian took the lead 7-5. The third round was impossible, he was unable to compete and fell, visibly dismayed, in the round of 16 of one of his favorite tournaments, the one he lifted 10 times.
“I’m not injured, I’m a player who lives with an injury, it’s there and my daily life is complicated. I try, but it’s difficult for me. Several days I can’t train well , today in the middle of the second set it dawned on me,” he said at the end of the game.
His compatriot, Paula Badosa, jumped onto the track soon after and suffered the same fate. The Girona could not beat the Kasatkina and succumbed in two sets, for a double 6-4. The tournament’s second seed found herself in despair, having found no cracks in the Russian wall in front of her.
ROME CONTINUES; THE ROOMS ARE ALREADY DEFINED
The Serbian easily beat the Swiss Stanislav Wawrinka and will now face, for the first time in his career, the Canadian Félix Auger Aliassime, who also easily beat the American Marcos Giron in straight sets.TSITSIPAS-SINNER
Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas still suffered to claim victory, but he accepted the quarter-finals at the expense of Russian Karen Khachanov and will face local tennis player Jannik Sinner, who dropped Serbian Filip Krajinovic in straight sets.
‘Sascha’ Zverev beat Australian Alex de Miñaur in the morning first team. The German will now face Chilean Cristian Garín, who after an intense nearly three-hour battle against Croatian Marin Cilic earned his ticket to the quarter-finals.
The men’s team is completed by the Canadian Shapovalov, executioner of Nadal, and the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Among the women, the most important duel will be that between the Greek MARia Sakkari and the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, brand new champion of the Madrid Open.
In addition, the Polish Iga Swiatek, number 1 on the circuit, should have no problem against the Canadian Andreescu; in which the Belarusian Sabalenka will face the American Anisimova as a favorite and the Swiss Teichmann will do it with the Russian Kasatkina, executioner of Badosa.
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