A week ago, the only question in tennis that mattered was: can anyone beat Rafael Nadal on clay this summer? He was rampant as of old, fit and fired again with ambition to crush all-comers on his favourite surface.
Nadal won again in Rome on Thursday – easily – and then the communal gaze switched to Alex Zverev. On Sunday he beat Dominic Thiem, who had beaten Nadal in the Madrid quarter-finals two days earlier.
Nobody could have predicted the struggle he would have in extending his run of victories to 11 as Britain’s No 1, Kyle Edmund, took him down to the wire in the third round of the Italian Open.
They traded blows of breathtaking power, Edmund saving seven match points before Zverev eked out the most dramatic of wins, 7-5, 7-6 (11). He now has every chance of still being there on Sunday, probably against Nadal, to defend the title he won a year ago.
If Nadal reaches the final here, Edmund will automatically be seeded in the top 16 at the French Open, which starts on Sunday week. “I’ve not been a seed in any of the grand slams but I guess it avoids playing a top guy like Rafa or Novak [Djokovic],” he said. “And it’s good to see I’m going up the rankings.”
Sunday’s final in Rome could be one to savour and Nadal, if he makes it, should have more in the tank than Zverev after dismissing Denis Shapovalov, 6-4, 6-1 in an hour and 22 minutes.
But they are not the only actors in this play. Fabio Fognini, finally made the quarter-finals of his home tournament after beating the unseeded German, Peter Gojowczyk, 6-4, 6-4. His prize is … Nadal in the first match on Friday.
The most thrills yesterday arrived when Zverev and Edmund brought their contrasting personalities together on the tournament’s glorious second court.
Broken in the opening game, Edmund was back in business after several robust exchanges half an hour later, only to drop serve a second time. Zverev, whose serve frightens ballkids and dozing spectators, was banging them down at 128mph (207kph), 13mph faster than Edmund.
Zverev, the world No 3, sealed the first set with a swinging ace down the T, his second, after 42 minutes.
Edmund had to save three break points in the third game of the second set, but overcooked a crosscourt forehand. Zverev, getting ahead of himself, hit rashly on key points, then somehow rescued his serve for 3-1. Edmund would not lie down and, when his cause looked lost under a fusillade of booming serves, he doggedly got back to four-all.
Two double-faults in the ninth game nearly scuppered his fightback but it was Zverev’s racket that was shaking more obviously and, after losing three games in a row, he found himself serving to stay in the set,
With the court at his mercy on deuce, Edmund butchered a volley, but hung on to force set point as Zverev wobbled. Edmund made three astonishing gets in a row but could not reach Zverev’s clinching winner, and they were back on level terms. It was now a test of Edmund’s nerve and his serve. Both held.
They went to the tie-break, where the drama intensified. Edmund saved for 11-all and a sixth match point. Zverev pushed him across the baseline for 12-11 and match point number seven. At the end of one final high-grade exchange, Edmund pushed a weary forehand just wide, and it was done.
If they meet again in the French Open it would be reasonable to expect a repeat of these heroics. Both push themselves to the limit, Edmund with inscrutable calm, Zverev eyes bulging. Their rivalry is set. When Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray do leave the stage, they will have a pair of excellent understudies in place.
Johanna Konta leaves Rome for Paris mildly encouraged but also perhaps concerned after blowing a first-set lead against a top-10 player for the fourth time in a row when tJelena Ostapenko won their engrossing third-round match.
Konta, who has slipped to 22 in the world looked to have put her early-season torpor behind her as she sought to build on decent wins this week over Magdalena Rybarikova and Hsieh Su-wei. However on a mild, overcast morning and coughing from a heavy cold, she found the step up beyond her to lose 6-2, 3-6,4-6.
Konta broke her fingernail (on her bag) then Ostapenko’s serve in a bizarre opening to their second Tour encounter. After a brief delay to repair the digit, she was blasting the fifth seed off the court, and looked to be within sight of an early finish as her opponent complained of dizziness.
Ostapenko got her first break point at the start of the second set – and Konta survived four deuces, saving a second break point with her fourth ace in the longest struggle of the match – but the world No 6 powered on to level at a set apiece.
She held to love to stay in the match but Ostapenko’s shaky serve stood up and the 20-year-old forced a final wayward forehand out of Konta after two and a quarter hours.