Bautista Agut Up And Running In Rome

Roberto Bautista Agut extended his unbeaten FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Andreas Seppi to three matches on Sunday, defeating the Italian 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Aiming to advance beyond the third round in Rome for the first time this year, the World No. 21 broke Seppi’s serve on five occasions to reach the second round after one hour and 44 minutes. Bautista Agut will meet Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finalist Lorenzo Sonego or 11th seed Karen Khachanov for a spot in the third round.

Nikoloz Basilashvili will face Mikhail Kukushkin or Laslo Djere in the second round, following his first victory against Marton Fucsovics in three FedEx ATP Head2Head clashes. The 14th seed, who fell to the top-ranked Hungarian earlier this year in Rotterdam and Monte-Carlo, defeated Fucsovics 6-1, 7-6(2) in one hour and 39 minutes.

Italian wild card Jannik Sinner recovered from a slow start to upset Steve Johnson 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 on Campo Centrale. The 17-year-old, who competes as the youngest player in the main draw, converted four of seven break points en route to victory.

Philipp Kohlschreiber levelled his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Gilles Simon at 5-5, defeating the Frenchman 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Hungarian Open champion Matteo Berrettini also advanced, winning 88 per cent of first-serve points (30/34) to beat 2016 semi-finalist Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-4.