Rafael Nadal through to the third round of Italian Open

10-time Italian Open winner, Rafael Nadal has beat John Isner to maintain his record of never losing back-to-back on clay.

Nadal has won three of the last four years’ Italian Open. The win against John is a comfort for him after exiting Madrid Open last week.

He was beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

The Spaniard returned to his favourite clay surface in Italy with a 6-3 6-1 win to qualify for the third round.

If he wins the competition this time, he sets a new record of 14th French Open title back on track.

Nadal’s next opponent is world number 16, Denis Shapovalov. He saved two match points against him at the same event last year.

Speaking to the Amazon Prime about Denis, he said “I know how dangerous he is. I need to play well, I need to play better than today.”