In terms of joint events, Rome bucks the trend with the ATP main draw beginning before the WTA draw.  On Sunday, there will be six ATP first round matches, which is why the preview is a little early.  Personally, I like to post the preview before anything has happened.  Novak Djokovic has arrived in Rome after missing Madrid with a wrist injury.  Roger Federer was reported to be making a last minute decision after Mirka gave birth to twins, Leo and Lenny last week.  I think Roger will probably be here, but we’ll have to wait and see…

First Quarter: R.Nadal (1) v A.Murray (7)

Andy Murray

The Rome draw has thrown up a potential first match in over two and a half years between Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray in the quarter-finals.  Of course, it’s a big IF because Murray making the quarter-finals of a clay court event is not very straightforward.  Furthermore, Nadal and Murray have been projected to meet on many occasions this year.  Murray’s first match in Rome will be against a Spanaird, either Marcel Granollers or Feliciano Lopez.  Rather ironically, it was Granollers who Murray retired too in Rome last year with his troublesome back.  Both are reasonable on the clay so could give Murray a stern opening test.

Tennis-wise, Nadal has had a much better week in Madrid, making the final.  However, I don’t think there is enough data from straight set victories over Roberto Bautista-Agut and Tomas Berdych to suggest he’s back to his best form.  His draw in Madrid opened up and he snapped up the opportunity with both hands.  Before the Madrid-Rome double, I thought he would win Rome.  His draw to the quarter-finals is pretty delightful.  In the second round, he will play Gilles Simon or Filippo Volandri and the first seed he could play is Mikhail Youzhny.  Nadal will be the overwhelming favourite for Rome with question marks still surrounding Federer and Djokovic.

1st Round Predictions: Simon d. Volandri in 3 sets, Youzhny d. Mahut in 2 sets, Isner d. Melzer in 2 tight sets and Lopez d. Granollers in 3 sets

Moo’s Quarter-Final Prediction: Nadal v Murray

Second Quarter: S.Wawrinka (3) v T.Berdych (6)

Tomas Berdych

Based on recent form, it’s hard to predict what Stanislas Wawrinka is going to bring to the table in Rome.  He won Monte-Carlo with a series of excellent performances, but suffered a surprising second round defeat to the very talented up-and-comer, Dominic Thiem.  Wawrinka has a nice looking draw and will play a qualifier or Paolo Lorenzi in the second round.  The winner of a first round match between Tommy Haas and Andreas Seppi, the latter who made the quarter-finals of Rome in 2011, is likely to meet Wawrinka in the third round.

Grigor Dimitrov and Tomas Berdych could meet for the second consecutive tournament in the third round.  The joker in this section is Roberto Bautista-Agut.  The Spaniard, who reached the semi-finals in Madrid and has produced a very consistent set of results in 2014, could meet Berdych in round two.  Bautista-Agut would first have to overcome Dmitry Tursunov, who has won just one match on the clay this year.  Bautista-Agut has a good record over Berdych, winning two of their three previous encounters including one earlier this year in Indian Wells.  He’s a man in form and Berdych has been prone to the occasional upset this year.

1st Round Predictions: Seppi d. Haas in 3 sets, Dimitrov d. Roger-Vasselin in 3 sets and Bautista-Agut d. Tursunov in 2 sets

Moo’s Quarter-Final Prediction: Wawrinka v Dimitrov

Third Quarter: M.Raonic (8) v R.Federer (4)

Roger Federer

Milos Raonic was knocked out of Madrid in the third round by the in-form Kei Nishikori in two tiebreak sets.  His third round opponent in Madrid is likely to be another testing match, assuming he comes through his second round match.  Raonic will play Simone Bolelli or a qualifier in the second round.  He is seeded to meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last 16.  JWT has drawn Alexandr Dolgopolov first up, which is a tough match for both players.  Dolgopolov leads the head-to-head 3-2 and won their most recent match on the clay in Madrid last year.  Dolgopolov’s form has been significantly stronger than Tsonga this year and he will be the favourite to win that match.

Last week I had Federer to win Madrid and was a little unlucky.  This week, I am going to assume he is playing.  He’s got a fine draw to the semi-finals.  In his first match of the week, he will play either Robin Haase or Jeremy Chardy.  Fed could meet Fabio Fognini in the third round.  That’s not if Fognini acts like a complete doofus and gets himself kicked out of the tournament with his antics.  Anything is possible with Fabio.  His first match will be against Lukas Rosol, who has had some solid results on the clay, most notably making the final in Bucharest a few weeks ago.

1st Round Predictions: Anderson d. Pospisil in 2 sets, Dolgopolov d. Tsonga in 2 tight sets, Fognini d. Rosol in 3 sets, Delbonis d. Dodig in 3 sets and Chardy d. Haase in 3 sets

Moo’s Quarter-Final Prediction: Dolgopolov v Federer

Fourth Quarter: D.Ferrer (5) v N.Djokovic (2)

David Ferrer

Novak Djokovic will make his return in Rome; however with all the wrist injuries we have seen this year, I do have my doubts if there will be a recurrence of the injury at all.  Of course, I hope not! In the second round, Djokovic will take on Pablo Andujar or Radek Stepanek.  Djokovic’s last 16 opponent could be Tommy Robredo.  The Spaniard, who ran into a hot Bautista-Agut in Madrid, should get through a few matches in Rome.  He will play Juan Monaco in the first round.  Another first round match to watch out for features two players slumping in 2014, Jerzy Janowicz and Philipp Kohlschreiber.  I fancy JJ to stop the rot and break his seven match losing streak.

David Ferrer made the semi-finals in Madrid where he had two epic matches including a semi-final loss to Kei Nishikori (you can read my recap of that match HERE)  Assuming he passes by Joao Sousa or Mikhail Kukushkin in the second round, he would be projected to meet Nishikori again in the semi-finals. The Japanese star, who will crack the top ten on Monday, has one of the blockbuster first rounders against Ernests Gulbis.  Nishikori looked to be be struggling with a back complaint and has played a lot of tennis in the last month.  I would be shocked if he turns up.  This will open the door up for Gulbis, who I think could be the one to watch out for.  He’s always done well in Rome, beating Federer on the way to semi-finals in 2010 and pushing Nadal hard in the last 16 in 2013.  Ferrer will be tired and has generally, not performed well in back-to-back tournaments this year and Djokovic has the wrist.  Gulbis could sweep up…

1st Round Predictions: Sousa d. Kukushkin in 3 sets, Gulbis d. Nishikori in 2 sets or retirement, Robredo d. Monaco in 2 sets, Janowicz d. Kohlschreiber in 3 sets and Andujar d. Stepanek in 2 sets

Moos’ Quarter-Final Prediction: Gulbis v Djokovic

Moo’s Final Prediction: Nadal d. Federer

I’ve always felt Nadal would win Rome.  I’ve got him meeting Murray (QFs) and Wawrinka (SFs) in what would both be fascinating encounters.  From previous experience, perhaps I should have not predicted either match-up and then these matches may actually happen, which is what I want to see 😉 I’ve got Djokovic out to Gulbis in the quarter-finals, but that’s more based around concern over his injury.  If Federer turns up, I would be very surprised if he didn’t make at least the semi-finals.