Two of the great favorites for the final victory in the Masters 1000 in Rome -with permission from Jannik Sinner-, the German Alexander Zverev and the Norwegian Casper Ruudgave a full account of their respective rivals in their third round duels at the Foro Italico in the Italian capital.
Zverev beat Belgian Alexander Blockx 6-1, 6-4whom he had already defeated in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, while Ruud also did not suffer (6-3, 6-4) against the Czech Jiri Lehecka.
The German, winner in Rome in 2017 and 2024, was especially inspired with his serve, with 77% of first serves. He only gave up two break options to his rival and he solved them in both cases, displaying more solid tennis than the talented but young Belgian.
Zverev, the player with the most victories (48) in Masters 1000 tournaments on clay since 2020, will face the winner of the match between the American Tommy Paul and Italian Luciano Darderiwhich takes place this Sunday.
As for Ruud, a three-time semi-finalist in the beautiful Roman ‘Bombonera’, he also threw a good serve to resolve his duel. The Nordic tennis player He hit more winners (19) and made fewer unforced errors (17) than his rival (11 and 26, respectively).
The Norwegian, who this week left the ‘Top 20’ for the first time since May 2021 after not defending his title in Madrid, will face the winner of the match between the Italian Lorenzo Musetti and Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo.
A Croatian’s dream
One of the great protagonists of the day was the Croatian Dino Prizmic, who surprised last Friday by eliminating Novak Djokovic in the second round, and that this Sunday he advanced to the first round of 16 of his career in a Masters 1000 after defeating Frenchman Ugo Humbert with another show of courage in two sets (1-6, 5-7).
Prizmic, with 84% of points won with his first serve, did not give up a single break point and he took advantage of three of the four he had available. Furthermore, he only committed 10 unforced errors compared to the 30 of an erratic Humbert.
Now he will try to continue making history in the round of 16 in which he will face the winner of the duel between the Russian Karen Kachanov and the Dutch Botic van de Zandschulp.