Eighth seed Diego Schwartzman kickstarted his Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign on Thursday with a straight-sets victory over John Millman to reach the third round. The Argentine – a semi-finalist in Rome last year – needed two hours and 19 minutes to hold off the Australian, 6-4, 7-6(1). 

Schwartzman saved a set point at 4-5 in the second set and turned it up a notch in the ensuing tie-break. He reeled off seven straight points to book a clash with either ninth seed Andrey Rublev or Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

The 28-year-old is one win from reaching his fourth straight clay-court quarter-final this season. He reached the final on home soil at the Cordoba Open in February and a week later, the semi-finals at the Argentina Open before a leg injury ruled him out of remaining South American events in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago.

Following a first-round exit at the US Open, he returned to clay last week when he fell to Laslo Djere in the quarter-finals of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel. In only his second appearance in Rome, Millman was coming off a straight-sets win over lucky loser Joao Sousa in the opening round.

Gael Monfils bids to reignite a red-hot run of early-season form when he makes his tour return at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday. The French fifth seed faces German qualifier Dominik Koepfer for a place in the third round.

In his most recent outing, Monfils let slip three match points against Novak Djokovic in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals in February. It would have been his first triumph in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series in 17 tour-level meetings.

Following a fourth-round defeat to Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open, Monfils had won two titles – in Montpellier and Rotterdam – and hit a 12-match, 25-set winning streak before the World No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings denied him. It was the first time he had claimed multiple titles in a season.

Qualifier Koepfer scraped back from a set down and saved a match point against Australian World No. 27 Alex de Minaur on Tuesday. It will be his first ATP Head2Head meeting with the Frenchman.

A trio of Italians – Lorenzo Musetti, Fabio Fognini and Lorenzo Sonego – stands to join compatriots Matteo Berrettini, Jannik Sinner and Stefano Travaglia in the third round at home. If two advance it would set a new Open Era record for Italians through to the round of 16 in Rome.

On Tuesday, 18-year-old qualifier Musetti sprung the upset to beat former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka to become the first player born in 2002 to win an ATP Tour match. A win in his first meeting with former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori would make him the youngest man to reach the third round in Rome since an 18-year-old Fabrice Santoro in 1991.

A right elbow injury wiped out Nishikori’s opening two months of 2020 before the tour’s COVID-19 pandemic pause. Nishikori downed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the opening round for his first match win since August 2019 on Monday.

Seventh seed Fognini returns for his 13th main draw appearance at the Foro Italico on Thursday when he meets Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the duo’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. The 33-year-old is searching for his first match win since undergoing surgery on both ankles in May.

Humbert, who started his year with a title at Auckland, comes off an opening-round win over Kevin Anderson. The third Italian in action, Sonego, takes on World No. 34 Casper Ruud in a first-time ATP Head2Head meeting.

Two US Open quarter-finalists continue their campaigns on Thursday as ninth seed Andrey Rublev takes on Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and 12th seed Denis Shapovalov meets Spanish qualifier, Pedro Martinez – both first-time ATP Head2Head clashes. Rublev, who started the season with titles in Doha and Adelaide, downed qualifier Facundo Bagnis in his Rome debut, while Shapovalov also had the measure of an Argentine, Guillo Pella, first up.

The top-ranked Argentine, eighth seed Diego Schwartzman, takes on Australian John Millman for a place in the third round, having retired during their pair’s only prior ATP Head2Head encounter at the 2016 Australian Open. Former World No. 3 Milos Raonic – a finalist at the Western & Southern Open last month – will carry a 1-0 ledger into his showdown with Serb Dusan Lajovic.

ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2020
CENTRALE start 11:00 am
[Q] Pedro Martinez v [12] Denis Shapovalov
WTA Match
[7] Fabio Fognini v Ugo Humbert

Not Before 7:00 pm
WTA Match
[Q] Lorenzo Musetti v Kei Nishikori

PIETRANGELI start 11:00 am
WTA Match
[13] Milos Raonic v Dusan Lajovic
WTA Match
WTA Match

Not Before 7:00 pm
[Q] Dominik Koepfer v [5] Gael Monfils

GRAND STAND ARENA start 11:00am
[8] Diego Schwartzman v John Millman
WTA Match
Hubert Hurkacz v [9] Andrey Rublev
Casper Ruud v Lorenzo Sonego

Click here to view the full Internazionali BNL d’Italia Thursday schedule.

Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin saved three consecutive match points on Wednesday to advance to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia second round in Rome.

Trailing 6/9 in a Match Tie-break, the Dubai semi-finalists claimed five consecutive points to complete a 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 victory against Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Melzer and Roger-Vasselin started well, winning 83 per cent of first-serve points (15/18) in the opening set before their opponents charged back into contention.

The Austrian-French duo is seeking its first title this week. Prior to this year, Melzer and Roger-Vasselin had made only two appearances as a team. Their next opponents will be 2017 champion Nicolas Mahut and Benoit Paire. Mahut and Paire battled past third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 7-6(6), 2-6, 10-6.

US Open champions Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares extended their winning streak to six matches. The unseeded pairing saved all three break points it faced to eliminate fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek 6-1, 6-3 in 58 minutes.

The team Pavic and Soares defeated in the US Open final — Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic — also advanced to the second round. The eighth seeds beat Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau 6-4, 6-4.

Kitzbühel finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos continued their strong run of form, beating wild cards Gianluca Mager and Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-2. The fourth seeds are chasing their third clay-court trophy of the year, following back-to-back title runs at the Argentina Open and the Rio Open presented by Claro in February.

Rafael Nadal made a welcome return to the ATP Tour on Wednesday evening, when he got his quest for a 10th Internazionali BNL d’Italia crown off to a strong start in his first tour-level match for 200 days.

Nadal grew in confidence to extend his unbeaten ATP Head2Head record to six matches against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 73 minutes at the Foro Italico in Rome.

It was Nadal’s first match since 29 February, when he lifted the 85th tour-level trophy of his career at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC (d. Fritz) in Acapulco.

“It’s good to be back on the Tour,” said Nadal, in an on-court interview. “I miss the crowds. I played a good match, maybe he was a little bit tired after all his matches in New York. It was a perfect start for me. It was solid, [and I hit] good shots on the forehand and backhand. I didn’t expect to play that well.”

The 33-year-old superstar, who owns a 62-6 record in Rome, is attempting to capture a record 36th ATP Masters 1000 title this year, which would break a tie with World No. 1 and four-time former Rome champion Novak Djokovic. Nadal will next play No. 13 seed Milos Raonic or Dusan Lajovic in the third round.

Nadal saved one break point in the first game, and from 1-1 won 16 of the next 22 points. En route to a 5-1 advantage included Nadal striking a powerful backhand winner for a 3-1 lead. He was then a recipient of a backhand wide from Carreno Busta in the sixth game. Nadal closed out the 36-minute opener with an ace.

There was no let-up for Carreno Busta, the recent US Open semi-finalist (l. to Zverev), who needed to save two break points in the first game of the second set. Nadal raced up the court for a forehand volley winner to break at 1-1, and pressure continued to mount on Carreno Busta, who dropped to 1-4 after a forehand wide. Nadal went on to complete his 14th victory in 17 matches this season with a fifth service break.

Did You Know?
Nadal has been ranked in the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for 782 consecutive weeks since 25 April 2005, second only to Jimmy Connors (789). Nadal has won a tour-level title for an Open Era record 17 straight seasons (2004-20).

Jannik Sinner barely put a foot wrong for more than an hour on Wednesday afternoon in a battle between two Next Gen ATP Finals champions. But a relatively subdued Stefanos Tsitsipas found his clay feet to ensure a resurgence at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Sinner led 6-1, 5-2 and looked set for the second Top 10 win of his career, but Tsitsipas had other ideas. The third-seeded Greek won four straight games to serve for the second set at 6-5, but needed to save match points in the tie-break at 6/7 and 8/9. However, in the decider, it was all Sinner.

The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion regained his focus to beat 2019 Nitto ATP Finals titlist Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-7(9), 6-2 in two hours and 13 minutes for a place in the third round against No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov or Yoshihito Nishioka.

“He is obviously a very experienced player,” said Sinner, in an on-court interview at the Foro Italico. “I played against him last year here in Rome. I just wanted to play my game and move better. In the beginning, I was feeling great and I knew it was his first match on clay. When I served for the match [at 5-3 in the second set], I hit one double fault and the tie-break could have gone either way. I tried to start strongly in the third set.”

Wild card Sinner never let Tsitsipas settle on Pietrangeli, the second show court, for the first 40 minutes. The 19-year-old broke Tsitsipas three times in the 30-minute opener and won seven straight games from 2-1 in the first set to 3-0 in the second set.

Sinner, who lost two points in his first three service games (12/14), saved a break point at the start of the second set. Tsitsipas, the 2019 semi-finalist, left his comeback late, breaking Sinner at 3-5 and at 5-5. While Tsitsipas hit a double fault at Ad-Out when serving for the second set, there was no let up on drama.

Tsitsipas first led 4/1 in the tie-break, forcing Sinner to come back. The Greek held set points at 6/5 and 8/7, while Sinner over-hit groundstrokes on match points at 7/6 and 9/8. Tsitsipas clinched the 72-minute set, 11/9, when Sinner hit a forehand into the net. But Tsitsipas then lost the first four games of the decider.

World No. 81 Sinner is now 6-7 in a season hit by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Tsitsipas, who is currently No. 6 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and next in line to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in November, had beaten Sinner 6-3, 6-2 in the Rome second round last year. The Open 13 Provence titlist is now 18-8 on the season.

“When you’re young, in one year you can do a lot of things,” said Sinner. “I think I have improved everything. Especially the serve. I served a little bit better [today], changing rotation and everything… Playing against him is never easy. Last year was my first test against a Top 10 player. It was a little test… Today, I knew that I had the level to compete better against him. Obviously, it was a great match, and I’m very happy.”

Novak Djokovic opened his bid for a fifth Internazionali BNL d’Italia trophy on Wednesday, beating Salvatore Caruso 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round.

Competing for the first time on clay since his semi-final loss to Dominic Thiem at Roland Garros last year, the World No. 1 improved as the match progressed to record his 51st victory in 60 matches at the ATP Masters 1000 event. In terms of matches won, Djokovic is the second most successful player in tournament history. Only nine-time winner Rafael Nadal, who meets Pablo Carreno Busta later in the day, owns more victories in the Italian capital (61).

“It was a very good test for me. I’m very pleased with the way I handled myself in important moments,” said Djokovic. “I was in control of the match. Served well when I needed to come up with a big serve and moved well. I constructed the points as the clay courts demand, because it’s obviously completely different surface in terms of building the point tactically. Everything went well. I’m very pleased.”

Djokovic has now won 27 of his 28 matches this year. The Serbian owns a tour-leading three trophies this year, having already triumphed at the Australian Open, Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and Western & Southern Open in 2020.

The 33-year-old, who tied Pete Sampras’ tally of 286 weeks as the No. 1 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings on Monday, is aiming to lift a record 36th Masters 1000 crown this week. Djokovic currently shares the record with fellow 35-time Masters 1000 champion Nadal.

Djokovic will continue his quest for a fifth Rome title against countryman Filip Krajinovic. World No. 29 Krajinovic broke serve on four occasions to defeat 2018 Roland Garros semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 6-1 in 76 minutes. Djokovic will face Krajinovic for the second time in their ATP Head2Head series, after retiring during their only previous meeting in Belgrade in 2010.

“[Krajinovic] is in good form. I haven’t played against him since the first time we played in Belgrade… I retired [from] that match after a set,” said Djokovic. “So I look forward to that. I’m very glad that Filip is doing well with the new coach, Janko Tipsarevic. Filip is someone that I [have been] very close to for many years. I was trying to kind of mentor him in the past seven, eight years. I’m just very, very pleased that he’s doing well.”

After failing to convert two break points at 3-2 in the first set, the Belgrade native broke serve for the first time two games later. Djokovic retuned with consistent depth to rush his opponent, who committed a series of errors from the baseline.

In the second set, Djokovic raised his level to earn two further service breaks en route to his second victory in as many ATP Head2Head matches against Caruso. The four-time champion dictated play with his forehand to break serve in an 11-minute game at 1-1 and closed out the match with back-to-back love service holds.

Marin Cilic needed just 70 minutes to eliminate sixth seed David Goffin 6-2, 6-2 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Wednesday.

The former World No. 3 did not face a break point throughout the second-round contest, winning 88 per cent of first-serve points (23/26) to level his ATP Head2Head series at 4-4 against the Belgian. Two of Cilic’s four victories against Goffin have come at this event. The Croatian also defeated Goffin in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals in 2017.

With his third victory since the resumption of the ATP Tour last month, Cilic improves to 15-11 in the Italian capital. The 31-year-old achieved his best result in Rome in 2018, when he beat Pablo Carreno Busta to reach the semi-finals.

Cilic will meet Casper Ruud or Lorenzo Sonego for a place in the quarter-finals. The World No. 40 has not met either player at tour-level.

Fourth seed Matteo Berrettini also produced a fine serving performance to book his place in the third round. The home favourite dropped only three points behind his serve (31/34) en route to a 7-5, 6-1 victory against Federico Coria of Argentina.

Berrettini has now won five of his seven matches since returning to the ATP Tour at the Western & Southern Open last month. The Italian advanced to the fourth round at the US Open for the second straight year, earning straight-sets wins against Go Soeda, Ugo Humbert and Ruud. Berrettini will face US Open quarter-finalist Borna Coric or countryman Stefano Travaglia in the third round.