Internazionali BNL d’Italia—Rome, Italy
Top seed Rafael Nadal captured his eighth title at the Roma Masters on Sunday, defeating No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and nine minutes. Checkout Novibet Sports for future matches on Tour.
Zverev, who opened proceedings with a break of serve quickly saw his momentum stopped by the Spaniard. After losing sixth straight games to end the first set, Zverev jumped out to a 3-0 second set lead, courtesy of some great play from the back-of-the-court. After dominating the second set, Zverev also jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the third set before a rain delay. After resuming play with Zverev leading 3-2, Nadal regained his focus and roared back to win the set and title.
Capturing his 78th career title, Nadal has now won three events on the year, including trophies in Barcelona and Monte Carlo.
Returning back to No. 1 in the world on Monday, Nadal will now set his sights on winning his 11th French Open title in Paris, France.
Zverev, who was looking for his third title in as many weeks, completed his clay-court preparation for the French Open in splendid form, finishing second to Nadal with titles in Madrid and Munich.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina defended her title by trouncing world No. 1 Simona Halep 6-0, 6-4 in the ladies finale. Needing only 67 minutes to claim her 12th career crown, Svitolina broke serve on four occasions, never lost her own delivery, won 81 percent of her first serve points and 65 percent of her second set points. Improving to 4-2 against Halep in lifetime meetings, Svitolina will now focus on winning her first Grand Slam title in Paris, France.
Halep, who will remain No. 1 heading into Roland Garros, will also be in search of her first-ever Major crown.
