By Victor Kanayo
Day after two tennis czar – Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal crashed out of the ongoing Italian Open in Rome, more big shots have suffered defeats.
Cameron Norrie is now out of the competition, following Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 7-6 (7-1) victory which helped him to book his place in the last 16.
Tsitsipas proved far superior in the opening set, breaking Britain’s Norrie twice en route to a rapid set victory filled with exquisite drop-shots, rocket serves and powerful forehand winners.
The second set saw the Greek move a break up early too, but to Norrie’s credit he dug deep to break back and force a tie-break, recovering from 0-30 down at 5-5.
The tie-break was even more one-sided than the rest of the contest, however, as Tsitsipas streaked out to 5-0, and then clinched a 7-1 victory via a forehand winner.
Tsitsipas will face Australian Alex de Minaur for a place in the Italian Open quarter-finals, after the Aussie came from a set down to beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-7 6-4 6-4 earlier on Monday.
In another encounter, Naomi Osaka’s return to Rome ended at the last 16 after the four-time Grand Slam champion fell 6-2, 6-3 to seventh-seed Zheng Qinwen.
Japan’s Osaka was playing at the Foro Italico for the first time in three years after taking a break from the tour to have her first child and is ranked at 173 in the world.
The furthest she has gone in any tournament so far this season was her run to the quarterfinals in Doha, which she could not replicate in the Italian capital.
However, it was a positive tournament for Osaka, who has never won a title on clay but beat a top-20 ranked player on the surface for the first time, against Marta Kostyuk in the second round on Thursday.
China’s Zheng breezed past Osaka in one hour and 24 minutes to set up a last-eight clash with either Paula Badosa or third seed Coco Gauff.
Later Iga Swiatek continues her bid for a third Rome title against Angelique Kerber, while Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka will face Elina Svitolina for the first time since their handshake row at last year’s French Open.
