Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal and defending champion Alexander Zverev will meet for the fifth time when they face off in the men’s singles final at the 2018 Italian Open in Rome.
The German player recovered from an early break in the second set to beat Marin Cilic 7-6(13), 6-4. He is aiming for his third title in three weeks after lifting trophies in Munich and Madrid.
Date: May 20, 2018
Match time: Not before 4 PM local time / 10 AM EDT – New York, Montreal / 3 PM BST – United Kingdom / 4 PM CET – Spain, France, Germany, Italy / midnight AEST – Melbourne. To convert to your local time, use this website.
Rafa:
It will be a tough one. Sascha is playing great, winning a lot of matches in a row. Tomorrow I need to be ready to keep playing my best and that’s what I’m going to try.
Sascha:
I’m definitely not the favourite in this matchup, but I’ll be ready for it and I’ll do everything I can to recover. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.
We’ve had some very tough matches. In Indian Wells, I lost with a match point and in Australia we went five sets. Obviously we had some great battles and I’ve always enjoyed playing him. He’s the greatest of all time on clay, but hopefully I can prepare the best I can for tomorrow.
Rafa leads the head-to-head against the German 4-0, and has won all five of the sets they’ve contested on clay, including a three-set victory in a Davis Cup quarter-final between Spain and Germany earlier this year.
| Year | Event | Surface | RND | Winner | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | ESP vs. GER WG QF Spain |
RR | Rafael Nadal |
61 64 64
|
|
| 2017 | ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo Monaco |
Outdoor Clay | R16 | Rafael Nadal | |
| 2017 | Australian Open Australia |
Outdoor Hard | R32 | Rafael Nadal | |
| 2016 | ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells CA, U.S.A. |
Outdoor Hard | R16 | Rafael Nadal |
Rafa is the best clay-courter of the Open Era with a 407-36 record (.919), and he improved his record in Rome semi-finals to 10-0 with a straight-set win over his most frequent opponent Novak Djokovic on Saturday.
The King of Clay currently holds the record for the most ATP Masters 1000 titles (31, one more than second-place Djokovic) and will be looking for a 32nd against Zverev.
Rafa, who won both Monte-Carlo and Barcelona for the 11th time each this year, needs to win the Masters title to reclaim the world number one spot from Roger Federer.
Good luck & Vamos Rafa!
Source: ATP World Tour
What a drama. Rafa looks like he could get bagelled in set 2 and lose this final if he does not turn things around soon. Da nerves are back and this thing could give Rafa a big blow right ahead of RG. He completely did it to himself.
Another loose game from Rafa. 2BPs again.
Terrible 2nd serve return from Rafa and Zverev consolidates with no troubles.
Of course he won’t go away any time soon. Please Rafa, don’t grind your way out too much – it’s not gonna work.
I really don’t want Rafa to have to play a taxing 3setter when RG is just around the corner.
3-0 Zverev
So disappointing. Rafa opts for moonballing again on big points and Zverev breaks deservingly.
Rafa’s running FHDTL has declined so much.
Zverev looked much more calm and played a dominant opening game in the 2nd set with some great touch.
Rafa now suddenly spraying left and right and facing 2BPs already.
Come on, Rafa.
1st set to Rafa 6-1 after 33′.
Well done. 🙂
Perfect 8/8 net points won.
4 FH winners, 4 BH winners /8 games. Not bad. :p
70% 1st serve in but he only won 57%, thanks to Zverev’s good return and being pretty much on par in Rafa in mid-length rallies.
Rafa’s speciality – his 2nd serve – won him 100% points though.
Both players’ serve speed has decreased quite a lot. I think fatigue might have played a role here.
1 shanked return and 2 UEs from
Rafa on Zverev’s serve and it looked pretty much over.
Not. Great play from Rafa with serious depth on return and sublime touch at the net and he breaks from 0-40.
Zverev nowhere near his best though.
5-1
Zverev’s trying to play a more aggressive game but Rafa has started to find his rhythm so it’s not working as it did during his run to the final.
Rafa consolidates at 15 with Zverev missing a volley long.
4-1 Rafa leads
Trademark BHDTL passing shot from Rafa.
30-0
Another gruelling 18-shot rally and Rafa breaks with a naughty drop shot.
3-1 Rafa
More and more player trying to go for the 1-2 punch these days against Rafa.
I want to see Rafa do something more on return to counter-attack it. It’s not at all enjoyable to watch him still scrambling that much at this age. 🙁
Such a shame but also lucky for Rafa Zverev was also too nervy and broke himself more than Rafa broke him in the next game.
Great touch at the net from Rafa to level the score.
1-1 1st set
I believe Rafa has been woken up by now.
Slow start from Rafa again. Taking too long between serves; too passive on serve and predictable during rally and he faces 3BP’s in the blink of an eye.
Zverev doesn’t have to do anything special (yet). And he breaks at 30.
For some reason Rafa almost always win the coin toss these days and he always chooses to serve. But he also tends to get too nervy in the opening game so maybe he should mix it up like the old days imo.
1-0 Zverev
Good luck to Rafa. Another Madrid title would be a wonderful prelude to the FO.
RAFAMAZING ROCKS
Correction: another Rome title…
We need a win today.
Good luck🍀💪👊👍
Go for it. all the best. Vamos Rafa <3
Rafa play like you did against Zverev at the Davis Cup 2018 when you came back to tennis, and then you will win.
Wamos Rafa,you are the best.
Good luck Rafa i wach your much today it was very good you play ,tomorrow is going to be the best play for you .remember you are the king of CLAY.VAMOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS love your fans for ever🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾👍👍👍👍👍👍❤️🏸🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
YEH…………………………..IT WILL BE A GREAT MATCH FOR YOU SWEETHEART !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) : ) : ) 🙂 : ) : ) : ) HAVE A LOVELY EVENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) LOTS OF LOVE & HAPPINESS & VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX