Dominic Thiem stuns Rafa Nadal in the Italian Open QF
What's the story
Avenging his loss at the recent Madrid final, World No 9 Dominic Thiem ousted Rafa Nadal in the Italian Open quarter-final. The 23-year-old Austrian ended Rafa's 17-match winning run on clay by beating him 6-4, 6-3, to reach the Semis where he awaits the winner of Novak Djokovic vs Juan Martin del Potro. Thiem-Rafa met five times before including twice in current clay-court season.
About the tournament
Rome 1000 Masters
The Internazionali BNL d'Italia or Rome Masters or simply Italian Open is one of the three ATP 1000 clay court tournaments which take place before the French Open. It was first played in 1930 and happens annually at the Forca Italico in Rome. Rafael Nadal won it the most number of times (7). Andy Murray won the 2016 edition of the event.
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2017 Rome Masters
The 2017 Rome masters were scheduled to take place from 14-21 May 2017. Andy Murray is the top ranked seed of the tournament.
16 May 2017
Andy Murray falls to Fabio Fognini
Andy Murray's troubled form this season continued with the World No 1 crashing out of Rome Masters in his opening match. Murray was beaten by Italy's Fabio Fognini in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. He is the first defending champion to lose their opening match since 2008, when Rafa Nadal lost to Juan Carlos Ferroro. After the loss Murray admitted to "not playing good tennis".
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Zverev, Isner reach Semis
In the other quarterfinal matches, young Alexander Zverev beat Milos Raonic to reach his first ATP 1000 Semis while veteran John Isner beat Marin Cilic to face Zverev in the Semis.