Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome

[17] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. [24] John Isner (USA)

They are set to contest one of the semifinal matches in Rome tomorrow.  Zverev leads the American 2:0 and interestingly, both victories came at Masters 1000 events.  Will this be the third Masters where Zverev upends the American or does Isner have other plans?  Isner is the more experienced player; yet, he is not favored to win this encounter.  This is clay, which historically has not been a favorite surface for Americans and Zverev seems to have found his clay court game.  There will be some big serving and psychologically both will be feeling the pressure of expectations.  Zverev will have to deal with the emotions that comes along with being in his first Masters semifinals and that will be in addition to the stress of dealing with an opponent that has a big serve.

Isner will have to battle the enthusiasm of youth and the memory of having lost their two previous encounters. In addition, he will have to figure out how to handle the big game of his opponent on his least favorite service.  All in all both players will be tested, not only mentally but physically as well as they try to work their way into the rallies and take advantage of any opportunities that they get.  Will Isner turn the tables and get his first victory over the German?  Does Zverev continue his dominance over the American?  Does experience give Isner the slightest of advantage or is it irrelevant on this surface?  Both players will find their resolve tested as they battle each other on the most physically demanding surface on the tour and it should be an interesting match if both play at their highest level at the same time.

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