Right so we go onto the ATP/WTA tour event in Rome, the Internazionali BNL Italia (or Rome Open), which is a 1000 Master Series/Premier 5 event on the men's and ladies tour.
Starting with the ladies, it was a bit of a slow start but there have been some very good matches on display today, as the top seeds started to go out and play their first matches. To begin with we had Maria Sharapova who took on the talented upcoming American player, Christina McHale, and they played a very tight close match, with only one break of serve each set for Maria, who sealed it in 7-5, 7-5, to reach the 3rd round. And one of the most entertaining matches of the day that I had seen was between the Italian No.3, Flavia Pennetta, who went up against the Russian, Maria Kirilenko, and despite the scoreline in the 1st set, it was pretty tight, but Flavia took it 6-1. In the 2nd set however, Kirilenko went a double break up, at 4-1, but at 5-2 serving for the set, Flavia suddenly found her form again and rattled off the next 3 games to level up, and it went to a tiebreak, where Flavia dominated to win the match 6-1, 7-6(7-2). This was a really good match and it also had a great atmosphere as the court was jam packed, clearly the crowd were backing their native player in Pennetta, and they cheered her on, practically on every point won. And it was great to see the ladies matches have the audiences full support, as in Madrid I was rather shocked to see the ladies matches were barely attended, and the quarter final and semi final matches didn't have a half full audience!
In other ladies matches Petra Kvitova also had a tough test on her hands as she played another Russian, Anatasia Pavlyuchenkova, but she came through in the end in 7-5, 6-4. Jelena Jankovic however fell to the saucy Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, who defeated Jankovic in a very close match in 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4). Venus Williams also got off to a strong start as she comfortably saw off the pixie like Simona Halep in 6-3, 6-4. Angelique Kerber also came through a very tough encounter, against the Australian, Anastasia Rodionova, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
So more to follow on the lasses front soon....
Now onto the men, which started off today proper with the top seeds out playing, such as David Ferrer who played Fernando Verdasco, who both have a 7-7 head to head, but it was Ferrer who came out on top in this one, winning 6-3, 7-6. Del Porto was pushed hard by the Frenchman, Michael Llorda, as he toughed it out in 3 sets, winning eventually in 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Gilles Simon, the French No.2, also played against the American, Donald Young, but despite being a break down in the 2nd set, he came back to win the match in 6-2, 7-5. And Djokovic got his title defence off to a fine start as he played the Aussie, Bernard Tomic, and dispatched him easily in 6-3, 6-3.
Now for the match of the day, which saw the return of the British No.1, Andy Murray, who faced a mountainous challenge in playing the veteran and former World No.3, David Nalbandian, on his 25th birthday no less. By reputation you would expect this to be a tough match, and it certainly was that, although it didn't start out like that, as Nalbandian failed to get anything going in the first set, as he struggled on serve, and was broken twice by Andy. In the 2nd however, Nalbandian found his form, and got the break to seal the 2nd set, taking us into the decider, which was a very tight and hard fought affair. At one point, Nalbandian managed to get the break to make it 3-1, as Andy double faulted, however Andy broke straight back in the next service game. After this, the two men were locked in, but it was Andy that got lucky on Nalbandian's serve at 5-6, as his return just dropped back over the net. And after a shaky start to his final service game to win the match, Andy managed to come through an exhaustive encounter in 6-1 4-6, 7-5.
This really was an excellent, high quality match, and both players played some great tennis for the crowd. However as usual, it was Andy's serve that got him into trouble, as he captiulated (starting to like that word!) in trying to level the score to 5-5 in the 2nd set, and even handing the early break to Nalbandian in the 3rd. Regardless though, Andy once again showed his fighting abilities on the tennis court, which are frankly second to none, and played some of his best tennis to get back into the match. It was also Andy's 25th birthday today, so it was an extra gift that he was able to win the match, as it really did look touch and go at times during it. However Andy did a great job in the end, getting through, and he will next go on to face either Richard Gasquet or qualifier, and having a day off in between, hopefully Andy will be feeling better for the next round. So in the meantime, Andy, enjoy your birthday cake (which he was presented with after his match!) and work on that serve! :-)
So that's it for now, with the Rome tournament shaping up nicely, and Roger and Rafa will take to the court tomorrow, in their respective matches, so I will say a bit more about that then.
Bye the now.
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