By Chris Oddo | Wednesday May 16, 2018
Keeping up with the game of tennis, by the numbers. Each day at Tennis Now we’ll give you a fresh set—without any further ado, here’s what’s happening after a crazy Wednesday in the Eternal City.
9
Consecutive matches that Sascha Zverev has gone without dropping serve. Last week at the Madrid Masters he became the first player in Masters 1000 history to win a clay court tournament without dropping serve. He continued that trend today with a straight-sets win over Matteo Berrettini of Italy.
1
Simona Halep moved a step closer to retaining the No.1 ranking—and lost just one game in the process. The Romanian defeated Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-0 but needs to continue progressing in Rome because Caroline Wozniacki also won.
Halep must reach at least the quarterfinals and outperform Wozniacki by one round to stay at No.1. If the pair meet in the final the winner comes away as No.1.
140-31
The clay-court record of Maria Sharapova. The Russian won her second straight three-setter by defeating Dominika Cibulkova on Wednesday. Sharapova will face either Garbine Muguruza or Daria Gavrilova next at Rome.
52-6
The record of 7-time champion Rafael Nadal at Rome. The Spaniard blitzed Damir Dzumhur to set a third-round clash with Denis Shapovalov on Thursday.
6-2
The lifetime record of Denis Shapovalov at Masters 1000 events on clay. The kid has proven to be a quick study on the red clay. He became the youngest semifinalist in Madrid history just last week—and this week he became the youngest player inside the Top 30 since 2005.
1-1
Greece’s Maria Sakkari picked up her first career Top 5 win on Wednesday with her controversial win over No.5 Karolina Pliskova. The 22-year-old is now 1-1 vs the Top 5 and 4-9 vs. the Top 20.
And in case you missed that controversial ending, here’s a snippet:
6
Fabio Fognini snapped a six-match losing streak against the Top 10 with a dramatic victory over Dominic Thiem on Court Centrale on Wednesday. The Italian has now won against Top 10 players in each of his last two Rome appearances. But he has still yet to reach a quarterfinal. Fognini, who improved to 9-10 lifetime at Rome with the win, will face Peter Gojowczyk in the round of 16 on Thursday.