Big three of tennis through to third round

ROME: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are all through to the third round of the Rome Masters tennis tournament after they secured straightforward victories on Thursday morning.

World No 3 Federer was barely troubled as he dismissed Portugal’s Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 21 minutes, while world No 2 Nadal required little over an hour to sweep aside Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 6-1. Djokovic also recorded a straight-sets victory as he dispatched Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-1, 6-3.

Federer, returning to the Foro Italico for the first time since 2016, had criticised organisers for doubling ticket prices when he confirmed his participation last weekend, but those who have tickets will be treated to a double bill of all three top players after rain, which washed out play on Wednesday, forced them into back-to-back matches.

Elsewhere, Nick Kyrgios was disqualified just hours after launching a scathing attack on his fellow players on a podcast. Norway’s Casper Ruud was awarded the match against the Australian when he led 6-3, 6-7 (5), 2-1.

No 5 seed Dominic Thiem suffered a surprise defeat to Fernando Verdasco. The Spanish veteran sprung a big upset over the Austrian, coming back to win 4-6, 6-4. 7-5. Croatia’s Marin Cilic also suffered an upset as he was defeated 6-2, 6-3 by German Jan-Lennard Struff. No 7 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is also through after overcoming Italian qualifier Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-2.

In the women’s draw, Johanna Konta is also through to the third round after defeating No 7 seed Sloane Stephens 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1 in just over two and a half hours.

The British No 1 lost a tightly contested first set — which lasted more than an hour — in a tiebreak, but recovered to level the match and then ease through the third and final set against the 2017 US Open champion.

Konta will face Venus Williams in the third round. The American was scheduled to face Serena Williams in the second round, but the younger Williams sister withdrew from the tournament with a knee injury.

Meanwhile, world No 1 Naomi Osaka beat Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 and No 5 seed Petra Kvitova made short work of Yulia Putintseva, defeating the Kazakh player 6-0, 6-1.

Spain’s Garbine Muguruza overcame Danielle Collins 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Muguruza faces former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka in the next round, while Osaka will compete against Mihaela Buzarnescu who came through against Julia Georges who retired with the score 6-4, 3,6 4-4.