RICKY’S PICKS FOR THE ROME TENNIS QUARTERFINALS: NOVAK DJOKOVIC VS. RAFA NADAL, ANDY MURRAY VS. DAVID GOFFIN

Written by: Staff on 12th May 2016

RICKY'S PICKS FOR THE ROME TENNIS QUARTERFINALS: NOVAK DJOKOVIC VS. RAFA NADAL, ANDY MURRAY VS. DAVID GOFFIN

epa05302399 Serbian Novak Djokovic serves the ball to Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci during their third round match for the Italian Open Tennis Tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, 12 May 2016. EPA/CLAUDIO ONORATI |

By Ricky Dimon

The blockbuster quarterfinal showdown at the Internazionli BNL d’Italia is set, as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal survived three-setters on Thursday. David Goffin will also be in action following a shocking double-bagel of Tomas Berdych during third-round action. Standing in Goffin’s way of the semifinals is No. 2 seed Andy Murray.

Ricky previews those to quarterfinal matchups and makes his predictions.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (5) Rafael Nadal

Djokovic and Nadal will be facing each other for the 49th time in their careers when they collide again in the Rome quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. After pulling even with Nadal at 23-23 with a World Tour Finals semifinal victory last fall, Djokovic is now leading the head-to-head series 25-23. He prevailed earlier this year 6-1, 6-2 in the Doha final and 7-6(5), 6-2 in the Indian Wells semis. Djokovic is on a six-match winning streak at Nadal’s expense and has won 13 straight sets, but the last four of those matches have come on hard courts. Clay should give Nadal a much better chance, and he is 13-6 against Djokovic on this surface. The world No. 5 has won three of their five previous Rome encounters, but Djokovic most recently got the job done 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the 2014 final.

The Serb made his trek to Friday’s quarterfinal more interesting than necessary, but he rebounded from a first-set bagel at the hands of Thomaz Bellucci to advance 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Thursday night. He preceded that result by battling past qualifier Stephane Robert 7-5, 7-5, so it is safe to say Djokovic has showcased nothing close to his best stuff so far this week. The No. 1 seed fell to Jiri Vesely right off the bat in Monte-Carlo last month, but he bounced back from that performance by capturing the Madrid title.

Nadal also dropped the first set of his third-round match before overcoming Nick Kyrgios 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-4. He is now 49-4 lifetime at the Rome Masters with seven titles. The Spaniard, who preceded his defeat of Kyrgios by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3, is 27-7 for the season and 15-1 on the current clay-court swing with titles in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona.

Spanish Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Australian Nick Kyrgios during their third round match for the Italian Open Tennis Tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, 12 May 2016. EPA/CLAUDIO ONORATI

Although Djokovic’s form has been less than dominant in Rome, he can expected to inevitably raise his level against tougher competition. After all, he is 24-1 in his last 25 sets against top-15 competition dating back to his semifinal win over Roger Federer at the Aussie Open. The surface will help Nadal make this one competitive and probably even snag a set, but Djokovic will likely extend his streak to seven against the nine-time French Open champion.

Pick: Djokovic in 3

(12) David Goffin vs. (2) Andy Murray

Belgian David Goffin in action against French tennis player Lucas Pouille during the second round match of the Mutua Madrid Open played at the Caja Magica court in Madrid, Spain, 02 May 2016. EPA/JUANJO MARTIN

What will Goffin do for an encore? Whatever he does, it will be mathematically impossible for it to be any better than what he did on Thursday. The 13th-ranked Belgian, who had previously been 0-2 lifetime against Tomas Berdych, double-bageled the eighth-ranked Czech 6-0, 6-0. It was the first-ever double-bagel issued by Goffin and the first-ever suffered by Berdych. While the scoreline is obviously a massive stunner, it is not as if the No. 12 seed’s amazing form has come out of nowhere. He has already reached two Masters 1000 semis in 2016 (Indian Wells and Miami) and dports a 22-9 record having also taken out Leonardo Mayer and Jack Sock in Rome.

Up next for Goffin on Friday is a fourth career encounter with Murray, who is sweeping the head-to-head series 3-0. In fact, the world No. 3 has not even surrendered a set to Goffin. He prevailed 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 at Wimbledon two years ago, 6-1, 6-0 indoors Paris last fall, and 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 a few weeks later on the clay courts of Belgium to clinch the Davis Cup title for Great Britain. Coming off a runner-up finish in Madrid, where he beat Nadal in straight sets in the semis, Murray has advanced this week with routine victories over Mikhail Kukushkin and Jeremy Chardy. This is an awful matchup for Goffin, who plays a similar brand of tennis to that of the Scot but does so with far less firepower. It will also be difficult for the underdog to duplicate such an incredible performance less than 24 hours later.

Pick: Murray in 2