ATP Rome: Djokovic fights back to the final
Novak Djokovic (ATP 1) won the semi-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome against Diego Schwartzman (ATP 24) 6: 3, 6: 7 (2), 6: 3. The Serbian meets Rafael Nadal (ATP 2) in his ninth final in Rome.
by Robert M. Frank
last edit: May 18, 2019, 10:42 pm
After a year off, Novak Djokovic is back in the final of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. At the tournament in the Italian capital, in which Djokovic has recorded four tournament victories (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015) and four finals (2009, 2012, 2016, 2017) in the past eleven years, the 31-year-old sat down on the court Centrale in a hotly contested game against Schwartzman in 2:31 hours.
The third duel between the world number one and the Argentine was contested from the first set. Break chances were scarce at first, both players were able to bring their service through. While Djokovic remained patient, on the other hand, the two-time ATP tournament winner from Buenos Aires tried again and again with praises against the storming Serbs. However, the 26-year-old South American was unable to take a service game from Djokovic. On the other hand, the 74-time ATP tournament winner took the first and only chance in the first set to freeze to a break at 5: 3 and then closed the sack to 6: 3.
In the second set, the agile Schwartzman was able to serve with a service game. The Argentine initially fended off network attacks from the favorite placed in Rome's number one spot and also took the service from the Serbian to a 4-2 defeat. As a result, Djokovic, who had many unnecessary mistakes, made an immediate rebreak on the other side, but then had to give up his serve game again to 3: 5. In the break festival, the world number one came again to 5: 5. In the end, however, Schwartzman won the tie break 7-2.
In the third set, the Serb was allowed to play again with service games. The 31-year-old succeeded three times in a row, the Argentine also twice. After Schwartzman put a backhand slice on the net, Djokovic managed a break to 4-2 in the meantime. The favorite could not be taken until the end and won 6: 3.
At the clay court tournament, which is endowed with 5,791,280 euros, the successful run of the Argentinean clay court mound stopped after four victories against Yoshihito Nishioka (ATP 75), Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ATP 88), Matteo Berrettini (ATP 33) and Kei Nishikori (ATP 6) been. For Djokovic, however, tomorrow against Nadal in the final is about his fifth tournament victory in Rome. Djokovic lost to Nadal in the semifinals in 2018.