No surprises at the Seven Hills Tournament. Zverev, Tsitsipas, Swiatek, Sabalenka… The first quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome saw all the favorites qualify for the next round on Friday May 13.
The posters of the semi-finals are emerging. In men, the 3rd in the ATP ranking, Alexander Zverev, will face the 5th, Stefanos Tsitsipas. On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka will meet in the semi-finals, in a remake of the final of the Stuttgart tournament in April.
Zverev against Tsitsipas in the semi-finals
After his victory against Alex de Minaur, Alexander Zverev disposed of the Chilean Cristian Garin (48th in the world). LGerman broke on his opponent’s last serve before winning the first set (7-5). The second round didn’t really cause any debate. Alexander Zverev made his power speak by pushing Cristian Garin to the fault to climb into the semi-finals (7-5, 6-2). “It wasn’t the best tennis of my career“, conceded the German, “But I did the job and that’s the most important thing“.
Vintage Sascha!@InteBNLdItalia | #IBI22 pic.twitter.com/2IeZD8q14i
— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 13, 2022
He will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, easy winner of the Italian Jannik Sinner (7-6, 6-2) in 2h24. Despite a central court entirely committed to the cause of his Italian opponent, Tsitsipas dictated the tone of the meeting thanks to his forehand. Catchy in a first set which lasted more than 1h20, Jannik Sinner, who had never reached this stage of the competition, ended up giving in to the pace imposed by the Greek. After two very feverish matches, the winner of the Monte Carlo Tournament was full of confidence against an opponent he had already beaten at the Australian Open.
Sabalenka struggles, Swiatek advances
While she was easily rid of Jessica Pegula yesterday, the day turned out to be more difficult for Aryna Sabalenka. The Bulgarian had to fight in three sets to defeat American Amanda Anisimova (4-6, 6-3, 6-2), whom she was facing for the third time in five weeks and who has not yet never beaten.
13-11 – Amanda #Anisimova (13) and Aryna #Sabalenka (11) are now the two players with the most matches gone to the third set in 2022. Fighters.#InternazionaliBNL @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/BovmIeGSYv
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) May 13, 2022
The Bulgarian joins Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals. Friday, the world number 1 continued her walk in Rome by eliminating the 90th world, Bianca Andreescu (7-6, 6-0). The Pole thus brings her total of consecutive victories to 26. Only the Williams sisters, Justine Henin and Aryna Azarenka have done better in history. In the form of her career, Iga Swiatek appears to be the best candidate to lift the Roman trophy for the second time in a row. A good omen a few days before Roland Garros.