Verdasco Overcomes Italian Challenge

© Getty ImagesFernando Verdasco has won 10 of his past 11 matches.

World No. 9 Fernando Verdasco needed to call on all the confidence he has gained in the past two weeks to overcome a gritty challenge from Italian wild card Simone Bolelli in his opening match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Wednesday.

The Spaniard rallied from a 2-5 deficit and saved six set points in the first set before prevailing 7-6(11), 6-3 in one hour and 47 minutes to reach the third round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tennis tournament in Rome.

The 26-year-old Verdasco recently declared he is in the “best moment” of his career having won 10 of his past 11 matches. The Madrileño reached the final of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event for the first time at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Nadal) before winning his fifth ATP World Tour title – and second of the season – at last week’s Barcelona Open BancSabadell (d. Soderling).

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The left-hander next will face countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who cruised past Australian Lleyton Hewitt 6-2, 6-3 in 76 minutes.

Croatian Ivan Ljubicic fired 17 aces as he battled past Spain’s Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 7-6(3). Almagro saved 11 of 13 break points, but it was not enough to stop him falling to the No. 15-ranked Ljubicic in two hours and six minutes.

The 31-year-old Ljubicic, who recently beat three Top 10 players en route to capturing the BNP Paribas Open title in Indian Wells, is through to the third round in Rome for the first time since 2005 (l. to Agassi). He posted his best result in 2003, when he went one step further and reached the quarter-finals (l. to Mantilla).

Ljubicic next will challenge Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who upset eighth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic after saving eight of 10 break points in a 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 win.

Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci withstood 16 aces from the racquet of John Isner to edge the 14th-seeded American 7-6(7), 7-5 in just under two hours. Bellucci, currently level with his career-high South African Airways ATP Ranking of No. 28, is coming off a quarter-final showing in Barcelona (l. to Ferrer) and next will take on World No. 2 Novak Djokovic.