Dusan Lajovic will face Rafa Nadal this Friday (19:00, #Vamos) in the round of 16 of the Masters 1,000 in Rome. The Serbian beat Milos Raonic by 7-6 (3), 4-6 and 6-2 Against prognosis, both by ranking (the Canadian is 19th) and because he seemed to arrive in shape for the gravel season after being a finalist in the Western & Southern Open (he lost against Djokovic) before the US Open, where he lost in the second round to his compatriot Vasek Pospisil.
It will be the third time that Nadal meets Lajovic (30 years and 25th in the world), whom he won in three sets both in the knockout stages of Roland Garros 2014 and in the first round of the New York Grand Slam in 2017. The Balkan had lost to Raonic in their only previous meeting, at Cincinnati 2018.
Hurkacz beats Rublev and Mussseti over Nishikori
It will also be in the round of 16 Diego Schwartzman. The 'Peke' beat Australian John Millman in two sets 6-4 and 7-6 (1) and in case of winning to Hubert Hurkacz He will meet Rafa Nadal in the quarterfinals of the tournament. The Argentine's rival, Hurkacz, surprised the Russian Andrey Rublev, who had just made a great US Open and could not overcome an opponent who beat him 7-6 (6), 3-6 and 6-2. The other, even bigger surprise of the men's day was given by the 18-year-old Italian Lorenzo Musseti, who beat the Japanese Kei Nishikori in two sets (6-3 and 6-4) and will now go after the German Koepfer, who defeated another seed, the Frenchman Monfils, 6-2 and 6-4 in the last game of the day.
Results of the day.