Wednesday shook up the Rome Masters tennis tournament, but Thursday’s action calmed the stormy seas at the rain-plagued event. As a result, the locals in Italy’s magnificent capital have two tremendous quarterfinals to look forward to. When the sun rises on Friday, lucky ticketholders at the Foro Italico will be treated to a pair of matches that are worthy of even greater stature.

In the early afternoon session, fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro will take on third-seeded Novak Djokovic, the defending champion at this event. Del Potro won his round-of-16 match on Thursday over Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3. The Argentine has has played deep into most of the year’s important tournaments, and is intent on showing the tennis community that his big, lanky frame can move around the court on clay. The one they call “Delpo” is ripening into form largely because his appetite is exceeding his nerves on the big stage. An encounter with the world No. 3 will give this 6-foot-6 giant a chance to cast a long shadow over his competitors in Italy.

Djokovic made his way into the quarters by crushing 13th-seeded Tommy Robredo, 6-1, 6-1. Djokovic has gained a measure of confidence over the past month by reaching prestigious finals at Miami and Monte Carlo. The Serbian star needed match wins to improve his physical fitness and regain the edge that characterized his rise to prominence in the first half of the 2008 tennis season. Now that he’s bagged a few victories in Rome, the 21-year-old will try to chase another trophy at a Masters event. A lot of baseline slugging is in order as two top 5 titans lock horns at the Stadio Pietrangeli center court.

Later in the day, the No. 1 attraction–literally and figuratively–will take center stage, as top-ranked Rafael Nadal will engage in a rematch of the year’s best tennis duel to date. Back in January at the Australian Open, Nadal’s place as the sport’s premier player was threatened in a seminal semifinal, as up-and-coming Fernando Verdasco nearly upset his more credentialed countryman in a 5-hour, 14-minute war. Verdasco held a love-30 lead on Nadal’s serve at 4-all in the final set, but the ever-resourceful Rafa escaped to hold for 5-4 and break for the match in the next game. This rumble in Rome will mark the first Nadal-Verdasco match since that epic encounter in Melbourne, a fact that lends this quarterfinal a championship-like buzz. Nadal steamrolled Sweden’s Robin Soderling on Thursday night, 6-1 and 6-0, while the sixth-seeded Verdasco fought past France’s Richard Gasquet, 7-5, 6-4, to set up the Spanish centerpiece of quarterfinal Friday in Rome.

There you have it, tennis fans: Delpo-Djokovic feels like a semifinal, and Nadal-Verdasco packs the punch of a final. Two quality quarterfinals will satisfy the Roman appetites of ATP Tour fanatics.

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OTHER THURSDAY SCORES AND NOTES FROM ROME:

(2) Roger Federer d. (16) Radek Stepanek, 6-4, 6-1

Roger Federer avenged a quarterfinal loss to Stepanek at last year’s Rome Masters, punching his own ticket into the final eight. More important than revenge is the fact that this win prevents the second-seeded Swiss from losing a large chunk of rankings points. By defending his quarterfinal showing in Rome, Federer won’t slide closer to world No. 4 Andy Murray, who still has an outside chance of overtaking Federer in the coming weeks for the No. 2 spot and the all-important second seed at the French Open on May 25. Having avoided a significant loss of rankings points, Fed will now try to gain points in his quarterfinal match against qualifier Mischa Zverev.

Mischa Zverev d. (8) Gilles Simon, 6-4, 6-1

While Zverev enjoys a rare appearance in a Masters 1000 quarterfinal, the big news is that Simon’s lost season continues. Simon soared from obscurity to crack the top 10 in 2008, but the early months of 2009 have witnessed steadily declining fortunes for the 24-year-old. A solid quarterfinal showing at the Australian Open has been followed by a lack of impressive results in the year’s first four Masters events. This loss to Zverev means that Simon has failed to register even one quarterfinal appearance at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, and Rome. Those consistently subpar results won’t cause Simon’s ranking to plummet immediately, but they will force the Frenchman to defend a ton of points in the summer and fall. If Simon doesn’t get going in 2009, he won’t just tumble out of the top 10; he’ll crash out of the top 20.

Juan Monaco d. (15) Marin Cilic, 6-4, 6-4

Monaco reached his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal with this victory. It’s clear that the Argentine is playing with considerable confidence after Wednesday’s takedown of fourth-ranked Andy Murray. Monaco enjoyed a huge 2007 season, climbing from No. 71 to No. 20 in the world rankings, but 2008 set him back. Currently ranked 58th on the tour, Monaco shows signs of returning to prominence in his sport.

(12) Fernando Gonzalez d. Jurgen Melzer, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5

Chile’s best tennis player will take on Monaco in what should be an entertaining quarterfinal. On most days, such a matchup would garner an appreciable amount of publicity, but with Delpo-Djokovic and Nadal-Verdasco filling up the marquee in Rome, this showdown between two South American stars won’t generate a lot of ink or TV time. Nevertheless, Gonzalez–a quarterfinalist at last year’s French Open knows how to move on the red dirt. As long as he can calibrate his groundstrokes and construct points wisely, Gonzalez will be a dangerous claycourt foe against anyone not named Nadal. Speaking of Nadal: If Gonzalez does indeed make it past Monaco, he’ll play the Nadal-Verdasco winner in Saturday’s semis.

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WTA Tour Update – Porsche Tennis Grand Prix - Stuttgart, Germany

Round of 16 Scoreboard (Thursday’s Matches)

(1) Dinara Safina d. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4, 6-2

(2) Elena Dementieva d. Agnes Szavay, 7-6 (4), 6-1

(3) Jelena Jankovic d. Sabine Lisicki, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3

(5) Svetlana Kuznetsova d. Na Li, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5

Marion Bartoli d. (7) Caroline Wozniacki, 7-6 (6), 6-4

(8) Agnieszka Radwanska d. Tszvetana Pironkova, 6-3, 6-3

Flavia Pennetta d. (6) Nadia Petrova, 6-2, 6-2

Friday’s Quarterfinal Matchups

(1) Safina vs. (8) Radwanska

(3) Jankovic vs. Pennetta

(5) Kuznetsova vs. Gisela Dulko (Dulko defeated No.4 Victoria Azarenka on Wednesday)

Bartoli vs. (2) Dementieva

Andy Murray wasn’t expected to win the Rome Masters this week at the Foro Italico tennis complex. In the same breath, the Scotsman also didn’t figure to bow out in his first match at this venerable claycourt event. One bad day at the office is a fact of professional sports, but Murray’s great misfortune is that his misstep in Rome will likely reverberate through the next month.

Murray, you see, didn’t merely lose his round-of-32 match on Wednesday to Argentina’s Juan Monaco, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5; the No. 4 player in the world missed out on a great chance to secure a coveted prize in the realm of men’s tennis.

Just what did Murray miss when he lost to Monaco, just one month after topping the South American at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami? Murray lost much more than a chance to win a clay title or earn a rematch with Rafael Nadal on the upcoming weekend; the most promising male tennis player without a Grand Slam trophy frittered away an opportunity to gain the No. 2 seed at the French Open, the year’s second major tournament.

Here’s a brief overview of the rankings battle at the top of the ATP Tour, which explains why Murray’s three-set failure in Rome rates as a significant event.

Before reaching the semis at Monte Carlo a week and a half ago, Murray had never gone past the round of 16 at any claycourt tournament. This means that under the ATP’s rankings system, Murray stood to gain a ton of points with a big spring swing on the red dirt of Europe. Under ATP guidelines, the points from one year’s event are added or subtracted based on the following year’s performance at the same tournament. For example, if a player made a 2008 semifinal at a Masters event, and then made the semis at that same tournament in 2009, the distributed point totals would basically stay the same (a slight difference would exist in this particular tennis season only because the ATP made a minor tweak in its point allotments; fundamentally, though, the basic principle remains intact).

Here’s a more precise look at the numbers involved in the rankings chase: This year’s Monte Carlo semifinal result gave Murray 360 rankings points, a 210-point increase over his 150-point (round of 16) showing at the same event in 2008. When Federer–a Monte Carlo finalist in 2008, good for 700 points–crashed out of the 2009 tournament in the round of 16, the world No. 2 registered just 90 points under the ATP’s adjusted numerical formula, which created a net loss of 610 points for Federer. Murray’s big gain and Fed’s far greater forfeiture of points suddenly created an almost-unthinkable reality: Strong showings at Rome and then Madrid (beginning on May 11) would enable Murray to overtake Federer for No. 2.

This loss to Juan Monaco is so damaging for Murray, then, because it put an abrupt halt to the Scot’s pronounced ascendancy. By losing in the round of 32 in Rome, Murray will accumulate just 45 points, a 25-point decline from his 70-point showing last year in Italy. Another semifinal would have allowed Murray to bank an additional 290 points in Rome, but this flameout means that Federer–a quarterfinalist last year (250 points)–can add to his points lead over Murray by making the semis this week at the Foro Italico. With a 6-4, 6-4 win on Wednesday over Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, Federer punched a ticket into the round of 16, meaning that he’s only two wins from notching a points gain over Murray, and only one win from avoiding an appreciable point loss.

Murray has already announced that his next tournament will come at the Madrid Masters in mid-May. Murray could have opted to play in lower-tier tournaments to accumulate points before the French Open, but by going straight to Madrid, the Scot now has to thread the needle just to have a chance at surpassing Federer for second place on the ATP Tour. The Murray-Federer competition will be easier to dissect once Roger’s run in Rome is over, but one thing can safely be said: Murray will have to outdo Federer by at least one round in Madrid, and probably two, in order to have a realistic chance at No. 2.

Why all the fuss about this topic, you might ask? Isn’t Rafael Nadal the reigning No. 1 in men’s tennis, the man who deserves every accolade at the present time? Isn’t the battle for “Numero Uno” the only thing that matters? Yes, Rafa should be praised from the rooftops, and yes, being the very best is the only way a tennis player gets remembered. With that being said, the fight for No. 1 simply isn’t a source of debate or drama in the tennis community. In the short run, “Who’s Number Two?” is actually a more pressing question, for a surprisingly simple reason: Whoever holds the No. 2 ranking come May 25 of this year will be the second seed at the French Open.

While it’s true that all tennis players aspire to be No. 1, there’s more than a little value to being No. 2 as well. Murray and Federer–like any other male tennis players not named Nadal–desperately want to be the second seed at Roland Garros so they can reside in the other half of the draw and avoid Rafa until the final. The No. 3 player in the world might avoid Nadal in the French semis if the chips fall favorably, but the No. 2 man is guaranteed to miss the Spanish superpower until the final Sunday in Paris. Being No. 2 in tennis is rarely thought of as a huge prize, but in light of the Nadal juggernaut that’s emerged over the past year, it’s worth a lot of dollars (and rankings points) to avoid the mesmerizing Mallorcan until the last match of any tournament, especially a slam.

Andy Murray has been playing the best tennis of anyone other than Nadal over the past several months. Yet, in the course of one awful afternoon, the up-and-comer suddenly saw his path to a French Open final get a lot tougher. Round-of-32 matches at non-slam events are rarely cause for alarmist themes or pronounced emotional reactions, but this is the exception that proves the rule. Barring a Federer collapse, the Swiss legend–once on the precipice–will likely be able to preserve his No. 2 ranking for a few more weeks, and earn the right to avoid Rafa Nadal for as long as possible at the French Open.

OTHER NOTABLE SCORES FROM WEDNESDAY IN ROME:

Jurgen Melzer d. (7) Nikolay Davydenko, 7-5, 7-6 (5)

Richard Gasquet d. (9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (2), 6-4

Paul-Henri Mathieu d. (11) David Ferrer, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2

What is it like to witness a dominant champion operating at the top of his game? From 2004 through 2007, Roger Federer dominated on grass and hardcourts at a level rarely seen in the history of tennis. Today, Rafael Nadal’s conquests of clay represent the most awesome displays of excellence in a sport that’s anything but easy.

Nadal did something on Sunday afternoon that even Bjorn Borg couldn’t manage in his own remarkable career. The top-seeded Spaniard, at just 22 years of age, eclipsed the celebrated Swedish icon by topping third-seeded Novak Djokovic, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, to win an unprecedented fifth straight championship at the venerable Monte Carlo Rolex Masters. In a tournament that’s been part of tennis since the 19th century, Nadal became the first man to rule the oceanside event for half a decade without interruption. That kind of accomplishment is just one of the reasons why Nadal might very well surpass Borg as the greatest male claycourt player of all time. (A lady named Chris Evert, with seven French Open crowns, can convincingly claim that she’s the most accomplished claycourter of either gender.)

As is the case with Roger Federer’s career, Nadal’s dominance on red dirt is something that can only be fully evaluated when the Mallorcan stops playing competitive tennis on the ATP Tour. Nevertheless, it’s remarkable that Rafa–on the sunshine side of this twentysomething years–has already amassed a career portfolio that can stand up to Borg’s resume on very even terms. Nadal owns just four French Opens compared to Borg’s six, but by winning five straight times in Monte Carlo, Toni Nadal’s prized pupil has collected another poker chip that will come in handy when the fullness of his career is compared to Borg’s.

Just how did Nadal affirm his place in tennis history? Quite frankly, the Mallorcan didn’t play his very best, but like any proven performer, Nadal elevated his game in this title tilt’s most meaningful moments.

Nadal might have lost his first set at this event since 2006, but the world No. 1 was able to shrug off sloppy sequences to take the first and third sets against his skilled Serbian foe. Djokovic consistently bothered Nadal’s serve, and had momentum on his side at the start of the first and third sets, but Nadal found a way to turn the tide. In set one, Nadal responded to a 3-1 deficit by ripping off five straight games to take the early lead. After Djokovic, with a well-calibrated mix of patience and agression, used timely net forays to grab the second set in commanding fashion, Nadal felt under siege. Djokovic earned three break point chances in the first game of the final set, allowing spectators and pundits to think the unthinkable: A loss on clay was genuinely possible for the best player on the planet.

In typical fashion, Nadal would not allow history to slip through his fingers.

Nadal saved all three of those break points at the start of the third set, one of them on a remarkable retrieval of a quality drop shot by Djokovic, to hold for 1-0. Djokovic would break Nadal in the Spaniard’s following service game to stay in the mix, but after that final lapse, Nadal–up 2-1–took the final four games to hit the finish line first. Djokovic acquitted himself quite well and bolstered his hopes of contending for the French Open title, but in the end, the king wasn’t overthrown in a locality he’s ruled for five consecutive years. Djokovic did his level best to stage a revolt, but Nadal had the resources needed to defend his turf, and increase his stature in the annals of men’s tennis.

The big dogs on the men’s tour will now take a break, as the Masters 1000 claycourt series resumes on April 27 in Rome. When the tennis world gathers in that most historic city, men named Djokovic and (Andy) Murray will be even more eager to knock Nadal off his perch. They No. 3 Serb and the No. 4 Scotsman might even think that they’re extremely close to ambushing the Spaniard. But as a gifted fellow named Federer has discovered over the past four years, you have to be incredibly accurate and particularly powerful for an extended period of time to get so much as a whiff of Rafa Nadal on the terre battue of Europe. Contenders will come and go, but there’s simply no legitimate reason to think that this supremely special Spaniard’s reign on crushed red brick will end anytime soon.

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WTA Wrap-Up: Lisicki uses booming serve, powerful groundstrokes to claim first career title in Charleston

When she defeated Venus Williams on Thursday in the second round of the Family Circle Cup, Sabine Lisicki still didn’t command the respect of the women’s tennis world. Four days later, the 19-year-old German has finally made her mark on the WTA Championships Tour, with a powerful game that will make opponents worry on every surface.

Liberated by her early-round breakthrough, Lisicki made the most of her opportunity by capturing her first career WTA Championships title on Sunday in Charleston, S.C. Lisicki defeated Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, 6-2, 6-4, in the final of the Family Circle Cup. The victory on green Har-Tru clay represents its own milestone for Lisicki, but it carries added meaning beyond the satisfaction of a trophy.

On the basis of this tournament title, Lisicki–ranked 63rd entering  the event–will now climb to No. 43 in the world and surpass Anna-Lena Groenefeld as the highest-ranked woman in Germany. It’s hard to imagine a player achieving more goals in a single week of top-shelf tennis, but Lisicki–the 16th seed in Charleston–managed to stay focused amidst a whirlwind of brand-new situations.

The truly amazing aspect of Lisicki’s championship was that the German managed to maintain a level head after vexing Venus on Thursday. Lots of lower-tier players reveal an occasional flash of brilliance in a single match, only to crash out of the tournament in the following match. Lisicki, however, showed no dips in concentration. After beating the older Williams sister, Lisicki lost only four games to unseeded Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals, and then did the same thing against sixth-rated Marion Bartoli in Saturday’s semis. In her second WTA final, Lisicki continued to play with confidence and boldness against the fifth-seeded Wozniacki, who looked understandably flat and sluggish after a draining three-hour war the day before against top-seeded Elena Dementieva.

Lisicki dictated every aspect of this match, but the clear key was the German’s nearly untouchable serve. Lisicki consistently bombed in serves of over 120 miles per hour, racking up 9 aces, dozens of service winners, and plenty of cheap points in the process. After cruising through the first set, Lisicki–up 3-2 and 5-4–faced break points that could have changed the trajectory of the match. When the pressure of the moment was at its peak, Lisicki found the serenity needed to find a strong first serve and battle back to deuce. The resilient Wozniacki fended off five match points in the final game, but a few final first serves allowed Lisicki to overcome some late-match nerves and celebrate with a roll in the green clay.

Sabine Lisicki might now become a force in women’s tennis, with a serve most of her competitors would envy. But even if the young German doesn’t become a regular Grand Slam contender, she’ll always remember the week when she finally became a champion on the WTA Tour.

Gambling is one of the many pleasures to be found in the destination city of Monte Carlo. Saturday afternoon at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters, a king and a joker found a winning hand, and a ticket to Sunday’s championship match.

The king, of course, is Rafael Nadal. The current master of men’s tennis and the undisputed lord of red dirt won yet another straight-set match in Monaco by ousting a valiant Andy Murray, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Nadal, who hasn’t lost a single set at this tournament since the 2006 final against Roger Federer, earned the right to play for an unprecedented fifth consecutive Monte Carlo title. While French Open championships represent the holy grail for claycourt competitors, another piece of Monte Carlo crystal would enable the Mallorcan to gain ground on Bjorn Borg as the best claycourter of all time.

Nadal endured pockets of spotty play against Murray, who acquitted himself well in his first-ever semifinal at a claycourt event. Rafael Nadal led 5-2 in the second set and seemed to have the match fully in command, but Murray unleashed his best stuff to force a tiebreak. On the verge of losing a single set on clay–which, for him, ranks as a mammoth upset in its own right–Nadal battened down the hatches and raised his game in the tiebreak. At 4-3 and 5-4, the Spaniard ended extraordinary rallies with eye-popping winners that reminded the fourth-seeded Scot who was boss. Murray should be extremely encouraged by his performance, which will allow the world No. 4 to become a factor at the upcoming French Open, but when the time came to decide a victor on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, Nadal put his stamp on the proceedings. “El Rey de Clay” received a worthy challenge from a world-class opponent, but the unstoppable Nadal reminded observers why he still holds sway on the terre battue of Europe.

Enough of the king. The joker who will stare down Nadal on Sunday is Novak Djokovic. Serbian diehards prefer the nickname “Nole,” but many other tennis fans–with a little creative license and the use of a silent “d”–find it appealing to view the 21-year-old standout as “the Djoker.” (Who could blame them in light of Djokovic’s YouTube-friendly impersonations of various tennis players on the men’s and women’s tours?) The third seed might play the class clown when he’s not fighting for tournament titles, but between the painted lines, this fiery competitor takes his profession quite seriously. Djokovic used a steely resolve and a smart, patient approach to wear down Stanislas Wawrinka in the day’s other semifinal, beating the 13th-seeded Swiss in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Djokovic, as has been well documented, is playing at a level well below the form that carried him to tennis heights in the first half of 2008. Nevertheless, this semifinal triumph over Wawrinka indicated that the 2008 Australian Open champion is becoming a little more comfortable and confident on the court. One huge source of encouragement for the Djokovic camp is that the Belgrade native won a match by essentially outlasting an opponent. Djokovic played particularly erratic tennis in set one, but dramatically lowered his error count over the final two sets. Djokovic’s shaky physical fitness has often hampered his ability to compete, but on this day, the Serbian star was not only willing, but happy, to engage in long rallies and force Wawrinka to go for too much on his shots. This is exactly what happened as the match wore on, and as a result, the Swiss–despite a plus-nine margin in terms of winners (24 to 15)–sagged as he neared the finish line. Wawrinka grabbed a 2-0 lead in the final set, but as Djokovic rededicated himself to patience and high-percentage groundstrokes, unforced errors piled up for the underdog. Wawrinka finished with 58 errors to just 32 for Djokovic. Whereas faster surfaces (grass and especially hardcourt) demand a more positive, attacking style, claycourt tennis is usually decided by the ability to limit errors. Djokovic performed that feat, while Wawrinka couldn’t, and that told the tale in a slugfest that lasted roughly two and a half hours.

Briefly turning to Sunday’s final, Djokovic last played Nadal on clay in last year’s French Open, with the Spaniard coming out on top in straight sets. Djokovic played Rafa tougher than anyone else at the most recent edition of Roland Garros (Nadal memorably dismantled Roger Federer in the title match), but the King of Clay still didn’t concede a solitary set. Djokovic will be hard-pressed to win, but much like Murray, he should be able to gain a certain amount of satisfaction from remaining competitive against Nadal. After all, that’s as much as anyone can reasonably hope to attain against the supreme Spaniard these days in the world of claycourt tennis.

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WTA Update – Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina

The second of Saturday’s two semifinals has yet to be completed (Marion Bartoli goes against Sabine Lisicki), but the day’s first semifinal felt like a full day of tennis. Fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki outlasted top-seeded Elena Dementieva, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, in an up-and-down affair that lasted just under three hours.

For much of the afternoon, it appeared that Wozniacki, an impressive 18-year-old who is cementing herself as a dogged competitor, would get off the court without too much extra effort. The Polish-born resident of Denmark–after winning the first set–held a 5-2, double-break lead in the second stanza. With a grumpy Dementieva spraying errors all over the joint, a routine conclusion was expected by everyone in the stadium.

This match, however, turned out to be anything but routine.

Suddenly, shockingly, Wozniacki collapsed when on the verge of victory. The teenager felt the pressure of closing out a high-caliber opponent, failing to serve out the match on two straight occasions. The inability to seal the deal at 5-2 was somewhat understandable, but Wozniacki’s jelly-legged performance at 5-4 represented a classic choke. The No. 5 seed threw in two double faults, one of them on break point, to allow Dementieva to level the set at 5-all. The flow of the match continued to spin out of control for Wozniacki, who lost her serve at 5-6 to give the Russian the second set. The smart money had to rest with Dementieva, who had steadied her game enough to profit from her opponent’s mental frailty.

Once again, the conventional wisdom would prove to be wrong.

As disappointing as her second-set collapse was, Wozniacki blotted out that failure with a notable showcase of psychic strength in the third set. Instead of continuing to tumble, the 18-year-old put the brakes on her slide and fought Dementieva on even terms. After falling behind at 5-4, Wozniacki drew a number of errors from the top seed before drilling a down-the-line forehand passing shot on her fifth match point of the day. It took a lot longer than it should have, but then again, Caroline Wozniacki ultimately did advance to the Family Circle Cup final. Not every women’s tennis player would have conjured up the resilience needed to prevail the way this tenacious teenager did on Saturday.