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Patna : Nine-time champion and 2nd seed Rafael Nadal, 34, Spain, battled past 13th seed Denis Shapovalov, 22, Canada, in three-sets in third round to reach the quarter-finals of Italian Open an ATP Masters 1,000 clay court tennis tournament, at Rome, Italy, on May 13, 2021, night.
World No 3 Nadal, the winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles, took 3hrs 27 minutes to defeat World No 14 Shapovalov 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in 3rd round rallying back from one set down and 0-3 down in second set surviving a scare. Nadal, who is yet to pick his top clay court form and is being closely challenged by Gen Next players, was on the brink of defeat but clawed his way back into the match after the 4th game in second set winning it 6-4.
Shapovalov fired 12 Aces during the match to just 2 by the Spainiard. The Canadian also won 5 break points in the match to 4 by Nadal. Both the players won 5 games each in a row in the match.Nadal, in all, won 120 points during the match to 115 by Shapovalov.
Top seed and World No 1 Novak Djokovic, 33, Serbia, thumped World No 48 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 21, Spain. 6-2, 6-1 in third round in 71 minutes to reach QFs of the event. Five-time champion and winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles Djokovic won 5 break points in the match to 1 by Fokina. The Serbian also won 9 games in a row in the match besides firing 4 Aces. Djokovic, in all, won 64 points in the match to 40 by Fokina. Djokovic will face 5th seed Stefanos Tsitsips, 22, Geece, in QFs on May 14, 2021.
World No 5 Tsitsipas beat World No 9 Matteo Berrettini, 25, Italy, in straight sets 7-6, 6-2 in 3rd round in 1hr 36 minutes winning 2 break points and 3 games in a row during the match. Berrettini, who reached the final of Madrid open last week, fired 6 Aces in the match to 3 by the Greek.