ROME (AP) — Rafael Nadal beat a drained Novak Djokovic 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 for a record-extending tenth Italian Open title on Sunday.
The Spaniard recovered from a doubtlessly harmful fall after tripping over a raised line to take the newest installment of the most-played rivalry in trendy males’s tennis.
It additionally re-established Nadal because the overwhelming favourite for the French Open, the place he will probably be aiming for a fair harder-to-believe 14th title beginning in two weeks.
Nadal beat Djokovic in straight units in final 12 months’s Roland Garros ultimate.
The highest-ranked Djokovic spent almost 5 hours on courtroom Saturday, when he needed to rally for a rain-delayed quarterfinal victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas earlier than profitable one other three-setter over native favourite Lorenzo Sonego within the semifinals. Nadal performed solely as soon as on Saturday, beating Reilly Opelka in 1 ½ hours.
Within the ladies’s ultimate, reigning French Open champion Iga Swiatek routed Karolina Pliskova with a “double bagel” 6-0 6-0.
Extra AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports activities
Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AndrewDampf
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