The Spaniard, who had shared the record of 33 Masters titles with the Serbian world number one, warmed up for the defence of his Roland Garros crown by securing his ninth Rome title. Nadal got off to a flying start by whitewashing Djokovic in the opening set. Djokovic took the second by breaking Nadal’s serve for the first time while leading 5-4, but the second seed responded in style by storming through the decisive set. It wasn’t an easy week for me.”Top seedThe 32-year-old left Djokovic in a daze as he stormed through the opening set in 39 blistering minutes. “I’m really glad that I managed to get into the third set, considering the first set where I was blown away from the court,” said Djokovic.

Source: The Irish Times May 19, 2019 19:30 UTC