tennis

"I am just concerned about where my game is at. The guys are back on Tour in a good rhythm, the level everyone is producing is great. I want to achieve that again too," the Swiss, who has played just two matches this year due to injury, said on Monday. The 39-year-old winner of 20 Grand Slam titles said that though things were going well for him in practice, he still needed to play some matches to get back to prime fitness.

Serena will play Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova, a former world No. 1 doubles player, in the second round of the clay court tournament. The world No. 68 defeated Denmark's Clara Tauson 6-1, 6-3 in one hour and 25 minutes. Serena's elder sister Venus, who had taken a wildcard into Parma following an injury-hit season, lost a gruelling three-setter to qualifier Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 7-5, 2-6, 2-6 in two hours

Djokovic is way ahead of the pack with 11,063 points. Russian Daniil Medvedev continues to be ranked No. 2 in the world with 9,793 points, just 163 points ahead of Nadal, who would be aiming for a record 21st Grand Slam title at the French Open starting on May 24.

Tennis Australia, country's top tennis body, issued a statement in this regard on Monday after media reports said the tournament would be forced offshore due to federal government's prediction that international borders will stay closed until mid-2022.

"It feels great and we're very happy with the way we played the whole tournament," said Pavic. "We didn't drop a set, so it showed how well we played throughout the week. It was a tough match. There were only a couple of chances in the first set before it became tighter in the second set from 6-0 to 6-4 [in the tie-break]. I hope we can keep going," he said.

Iga, 19, started Saturday with a challenging task ahead of her. Her quarter-final match, against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, which was postponed due to rain on Friday, had not yet started, and the prospect of a semi-final clash -- had she won -- loomed large in the evening.

n the final on Sunday, Nadal will take on the winner of the clash between Serbian world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Italy's world No. 33 Lorenzo Sonego. Nadal, the nine-time champion in Rome, claimed a single break in each set to move to one win away from a record-equalling 36th ATP Masters 1000 title.

Karolina's opponent in the semi-finals will be the resurgent Croat Petra Martic, who entered her first semi-final of the season, defeating Jessica Pegula of the US, 7-5, 6-4. Ashleigh, who was leading 6-4, 2-1, retired in her quarter-final match against American Coco Gauff after what looked like an injury to her right arm. The Australian appeared to be clutching her right bicep, which was covered with a compression sleeve.

Ashleigh's 27th win of the season took her one-hour and 21 minutes as she entered the last eight in Rome for the first time in her career. In other pre-quarterfinals, Jelena Ostapenko beat Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 while Karolina Pliskova defeated Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 6-3. "I think once I walked out there, it was a bit of a 'wow' factor. Pretty impressive centre court, took some time to get used to that," Ashleigh told the media

While Nadal struggled to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) in a three-and-a-half hour epic against 13th seed Denis Shapovalov, Djokovic cruised past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2, 6-1. Nadal, the nine-time champion, trailed 0-4 in the opening set, 0-3 in the second and saved two match points late in the third set as Shapovalov took control in their third-round clash.