Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek are both defending their Internazionali BNL d’Italia titles this week in Rome, so it was fitting they chatted on the practice court Tuesday before beginning their runs.

It is not the first time they have met on the practice court. At Roland Garros last year, the pair enjoyed a quick hit at Roland Garros.

💭 Defending Champs chats 👀#IBI22 | #tennis | @iga_swiatek | @RafaelNadal pic.twitter.com/ar9eRU9lve

— Internazionali Bnl (@InteBNLdItalia) May 10, 2022

Swiatek has long spoken of her admiration for Nadal. Last week, the Polish star prepared for Rome by training at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.

“For sure it was inspiring. You could see all the trophies, which is amazing. Seeing numbers on Wikipedia is one thing, but seeing all the trophies, how consistent he was sometimes in some tournaments, it’s amazing,” Swiatek said in her pre-tournament press conference. ”Actually I really like this museum. It was not only about Rafa and about tennis, but also about other sports. You could see there was Fernando Alonso Formula 1 where he won world championships.

“It was just interesting because you could see the sports, not only tennis, not only what Rafa did, so that’s nice.”

The WTA World No. 1 also had high praise for the recent efforts of Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev en route to capturing the Mutua Madrid Open title last week.

“I want to watch highlights for sure. I’m going to do that. I didn’t have time because [the] last couple of days have been really busy for me in terms of practising,” Swiatek said. “I’m going to do that for sure because what he’s doing is amazing. Wow, like winning against Rafa and Novak on the same tournament, just crazy.”

The second round continues Wednesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, with 10 men’s singles matches on the schedule in Rome. Three of those matches will take place on Centre Court, with defending champion Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev in early action before an all-Italian evening showdown between Jannik Sinner and Fabio Fognini. Stefanos Tsitsipas is also on the slate and will face Grigor Dimitrov in Grand Stand Arena.

Doubles action will span the first and second rounds, with top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury set to open their week on Court 4.

View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw | View Schedule

[3] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. John Isner (USA)

Nadal has never lost consecutive matches on clay and puts his 43-0 record following defeat on the surface on the line against John Isner. The Spaniard is also 18-0 against Americans on clay, being pushed as far as a deciding set just twice.

But both of those deciders came against Isner, who extended Nadal to five sets at Roland Garros (2011) and three sets in Monte Carlo (2015). Nadal leads their ATP Head2Head 7-1, with Isner’s win coming at the 2017 Laver Cup. They also met in 2015 in Rome, a match Nadal won in straights, but have not played since Beijing in 2017.

A 10-time champion in Rome, Nadal is in his 800th week inside the Top 5, 17 years after first breaking through at that level in 2005. Isner is seeking his first win against a Top-5 player since he beat Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev en route to the 2018 Miami title.

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After a three-set quarter-final loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid — his first tournament back after a six-week injury layoff — Nadal on Monday slipped one place to No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as he defends 1,000 points from his title run one year ago in Rome. He must better the Greek’s result this week to maintain his standing at No. 4 in next week’s Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“Madrid has been a positive week in different ways,” Nadal said of a challenging tournament in which he saved four match points against David Goffin to reach the quarters. “In other ways things could have been better. But I’m here to keep trying. It’s going to be another chance for me to play well, to compete again against the best players of the world.

“I’m excited. Rome is a very special place for me.”

[2] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs. Sebastian Baez (ARG)

Zverev seeks to back up his run to the Madrid final with another deep run in Rome, where he was champion in 2017. The five-time ATP Masters 1000 titlist — more than any active player outside of the Big 4 — begins his latest quest to add to that tally with his first meeting with Sebastian Baez. 

“It was the first Masters 1000 that I won, at just the age of 20, which was quite spectacular for me,” Zverev said ahead of his opening match. “From then on, my career kind of started. I was very happy at that moment, but now we’re here in 2022 and I hope I can repeat that.”

The World No. 3 has enjoyed a strong start to the year at the Masters 1000s, reaching the Miami quarter-finals and the Monte Carlo semis before picking up four wins in Madrid. 

Baez will be contesting his second match against a Top 10 opponent following a four-set loss to Tsitsipas in the Australian Open second round. The junior World No. 1 won his first ATP Tour title last month in Estoril and enters Rome at a career-high of No. 37 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings behind a 16-11 record on the season.

Flashback: Sebastian Baez with Alexander Zverev at the 2018 Nitto ATP Final, where he served as a hitting partner. Credit: Sebastian Baez 

[10] Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs. Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Both Italians impressed in the opening round, delighting the Rome crowd with all-action victories on Centre Court. Fognini denied Dominic Thiem the first win of his injury comeback on Monday evening, 6-4, 7-6(5), before Sinner fired 26 winners to get past Pedro Martinez on Tuesday night. 

They will again take the stadium court under the lights on Wednesday for their first ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I got to know him a little bit more in Davis Cup,” Sinner said of Fognini. “He gave me many, many things, some energy, because it was not easy for me for the first time last year in Turin. For sure now it’s going to be tough for me, for him. It’s going to be a packed house. But I [will] just enjoy it. Hopefully it’s going to be a great match.

“I hope [the crowd support] will be equal. Because he made a lot of history, especially here. And I start now, so it’s a little bit another generation.”

Fognini is 20-12 against fellow Italians, including a 3-1 mark in Rome and a 17-5 record since July 2011. But Sinner is undefeated against his countrymen at 3-0, most recently beating Lorenzo Musetti in Antwerp last year.

Fognini will turn 35 in May and is more than 14 years Sinner’s senior. The veteran praised the 20-year-old following in his post-match comments Monday, calling his countryman “our future star on the ATP Tour”.

Best Of The Rest

Three men’s singles matches are set for Grand Stand Arena, including Tsitsipas vs. Dimitrov. The fourth-seeded Greek is 4-1 against Dimitrov, and can equal Alcaraz for the ATP Tour lead with his 28th win of the season. Tsitsipas has eliminated the World No. 20 Bulgarian in straight sets in each of the their past two tournaments, in Barcelona and Madrid.

Fifteenth seed Pablo Carreno Busta and Karen Khachanov will take the court before that match, with ninth seed Cameron Norrie and Marin Cilic closing play in Rome’s second stadium.

On Pietrangeli, Stan Wawrinka looks to build off his first win in 15 months against qualifier Laslo Djere, while 12th seed Diego Schwartzman faces lucky loser Marcos Giron.

In doubles action, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury will take on a to-be-determined alternate team while Italian wild cards Luca Nardi and Lorenzo Sonego look to upset eighth seeds and recent Barcelona and Munch champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies of Germany.

Filip Krajinovic produced an inspired performance to upset Andrey Rublev at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Tuesday, nullifying the sixth seed’s powerful groundstrokes to surge to a 6-2, 6-4 win at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome.

It was the fifth tour-level meeting between Rublev and Krajinovic, but the first on clay, and it was the Serbian who settled faster on Grand Stand Arena. The World No. 54 opened a 4-0 lead on his way to the opening set and took the second with a solitary break to record a 69-minute victory, sealing the deal in style with a sliced backhand drop shot that left Rublev with no chance.

The win moves Krajinovic 3-2 ahead in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series. Having beaten Frances Tiafoe in the first round on Sunday, the triumph over Rublev means Krajinovic equals his best previous performance in Rome, a third-round run in 2020. Tuesday’s victory over the World No. 7 was just the Serbian’s fourth over a Top 10 opponent in 27 attempts.

Krajinovic’s third-round opponent will be a home favourite, either Fabio Fognini or 10th seed Jannik Sinner.

Fifth seed Casper Ruud avoided an upset of his own when he eked out a 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4 win over Botic van de Zandschulp, avenging a recent straight-sets loss to the dangerous Dutchman in Munich. The Norwegian next will play the winner of David Goffin and Jenson Brooksby.

Ruud this week is looking to turn around a relatively modest clay-court swing, which had returned just four wins from four events heading into Rome. No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Ruud improved to 18-8 on the season after winning 61 per cent of points on his opponent’s serve.

Felix Auger-Aliassime had his back against it literally and figuratively on Tuesday evening in Rome, but the Canadian star found a way to win.

The eighth seed rallied past in-form Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 after three hours and two minutes to reach the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

“It’s a great win. Great for my confidence to be able to spend three hours on the clay. Very encouraging for what’s to come here and in Paris,” Auger-Aliassime said in his on-court interview. “I feel good physically. I was able to battle it out with one of the best young clay-court players we have in the game right now. He’s not playing this way by accident. He’s playing really well consistently, so it’s a great win for me.”

After the first set, a victory looked far from certain. Davidovich Fokina stormed through the end of the opening set and Auger-Aliassime then took a medical timeout to receive treatment on his back.

“At the end of the first set I went for a slide forehand and something tweaked in my back. I just felt a sharp pain, so I thought it would be good to get some treatment, some medication,” Auger-Aliassime said. “But after it felt okay. It’s not the best, but it feels good.”

Davidovich Fokina, the recent Monte Carlo finalist, earned two break points at 4-4 in the second set. On the first, he controlled the point, but missed an inside-out forehand. On the second, Auger-Aliassime painted the sideline with a forehand approach shot.

The Canadian then found his best tennis to battle through the tie-break and pull away in the deciding set. According to Tennis Data Innovation’s Insights, the key was how often Auger-Aliassime was on offence.

Although the opponents were similarly efficient on offence and defence, the Balance of Power showed that Auger-Aliassime was in an attacking position 31 per cent of the time compared to 22 per cent for Davidovich Fokina. The average on Tour is 21 per cent.

“He was playing amazing, to be honest. I wasn’t playing so bad. Unfortunately got broken in a tight game that he played good. Saved a couple important break points in the second set, was able to turn it around, played a great tie-break,” said Auger-Aliassime, who will next face 12th seed Diego Schwartzman or American lucky loser Marcos Giron. “Third set was the best of all, for sure. It’s great to finish that way and it’s very encouraging for what is to come.”

Another Canadian, 13th seed Denis Shapovalov, defeated Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 7-6(5). The lefty will challenge third seed Rafael Nadal or big-serving American John Isner for a place in the quarter-finals.

Shapovalov only faced one break point against 2021 Indian Wells finalist Basilashvili and he saved it. The 23-year-old won 85 per cent of his first-serve points in his one-hour, 40-minute victory.

Jannik Sinner provided the evening entertainment at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Tuesday, sending the Italian fans home happy after his 6-4, 6-3 win over Pedro Martinez. The San Candido native started strongly in Rome, firing 26 winners — including 15 off the forehand — as he opened his bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in the Italian capital.

“Very pleased obviously,” he said of the result. “It was a very warm welcome from all of them. It’s an incredible feeling playing here in Rome with a lot of crowds.

“I can be happy. I can do better for sure, so let’s see how it goes.”

The 20-year-old won the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals on home soil in Milan in 2019, but has been as far the last 16 just once in three previous Rome appearances. He has reached the quarter-final stage in four of his six ATP Tour events this season, including at ATP Masters 1000 events in Miami and Monte Carlo, and the Australian Open.

With Martinez entering Rome Masters 1000 at a career-high of No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the Spaniard provided a tough opening test for his 10th-seeded opponent in the first meeting between the pair. But Sinner, who improved to 7-0 in first-round matches on the season, rose to the challenge with the support of a packed Centre Court crowd.

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The Italian stormed out of the gates by winning the first seven points of the match on the way to a 3-0 lead. Though he missed out on a chance to serve out the opening set, Sinner immediately rebounded by getting back to the heavy hitting that gave him the lead in the first place. Pinning Martinez behind the baseline, he sealed the set with his second break, firing winners off both baseline wings on the last two points.

There was little Martinez could do as Sinner again raced to a 3-0 lead in set two with more bruising baseline play. He saved the only break point he faced in the second and closed the match with his fourth ace after one hour and 24 minutes.

The home favourite dominated the Balance of Power in the match, playing 26 per cent of his shots from attacking positions compared to 17 per cent for Martinez.

Sinner will next face countryman Fabio Fognini Wednesday evening in the second round. Fognini beat Dominic Thiem on Monday and is two wins away from his 400th tour-level victory. The Centre Court headliner will be the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I got to know him a little bit more in Davis Cup,” Sinner said of Fognini. “He gave me many, many things, some energy, because it was not easy for me for the first time last year in Turin. For sure now it’s going to be tough for me, for him. It’s going to be a packed house. But I [will] just enjoy it. Hopefully it’s going to be a great match.

“I hope [the crowd support] will be equal. Because he made a lot of history, especially here. And I start now, so it’s a little bit another generation.”

Defending champions Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic got back to winning ways Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with a dominant victory to open their Rome campaign. The third seeds cruised past Lukasz Kubot and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 6-3, 6-3, to earn their first victory since reaching the Belgrade final last month.

After early exits in Munich and Madrid, the Croatians started strongly in the Italian capital. They broke serve three times in the match and erased all four break points against them, winning 74 per cent (26/35) of their first-serve points with the help of seven aces. Grigor Dimitrov and Hubert Hurkacz await in the last 16.

Mektic and Pavic reached the Dubai final in February but are still seeking their first title of 2022. The Croatians won nine titles last season, their first as a team, including three at ATP Masters 1000 events (Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome). They also claimed the Wimbledon title and Tokyo Olympic gold.

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In an all-Italian showdown between wild-card duos, Luca Nardi and Lorenzo Sonego downed Flavio Cobolli and Francesco Forti, 6-2, 6-7(7), 10-4. They will face eighth-seeded Germans Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, recent champions in Barcelona and Munich, in the last 16.

Another Match Tie-break saw the fourth-seeded duo of John Peers and Filip Polasek dismissed in the opening round, with Andrey Golubev and Maximo Gonzalez taking a 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 decision.

Novak Djokovic’s bid to retain his World No. 1 status enjoyed a solid start on Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, as the five-time champion brushed past Aslan Karatsev, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

The top seed must reach the semi-finals to prevent Daniil Medvedev from taking his spot at the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings on Monday, and the Serbian’s all-round performance against Karatsev represented an impressive start to that mission. Djokovic’s return game was at its relentless best as he broke the World No. 35’s serve four times on his way to a comfortable win on centre court.

Prior to the match Djokovic spoke of the physical improvements he felt during his run to the semi-finals at last week’s Mutua Madrid Open after a difficult start to 2022. Although the quickfire nature of his victory meant the 37-time Masters 1000 champion’s stamina was not severely tested against Karatsev, his outstanding defensive game appeared back to its imperious best.

Karatsev had beaten Djokovic in his hometown in the pair’s sole previous meeting on clay at the 2021 Serbia Open. The World No. 35 dropped his opening service game at the Foro Italico but broke back immediately, a demonstration of the threat his high-powered game can pose. The three-time ATP Tour titlist could not hold off Djokovic for long, however, as the Serbian broke again in the eighth game on his way to the opening set.

The second set was more straightforward for Djokovic, who surged to a 4-0 lead as Karatsev struggled to make any real impact against his accurate delivery. The Serbian had no issues serving out to complete victory in 91 minutes to move into a 2-1 ATP Head2Head series lead over Karatasev.

Djokovic is chasing a maiden title for 2022 in Rome, where his third-round opponent will be fellow Serbian Laslo Djere or former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka.