Borna Coric, the No. 13 seed, was made to work hard on Monday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome for his 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 win over #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime. With his first victory at the Foro Italico, the Croatian will now play Australia’s John Millman or British qualifier Cameron Norrie in the second round.

Coric led his 18-year-old opponent 4-2 in the first set, but was made to pay for a slow start in the tie-break. He won the first three games of the second set and broke in the opening game of the decider en route to victory in two hours and 30 minutes.

Auger-Aliassime, at No. 30 in the ATP Rankings, is the youngest player in the Top 30 since Lleyton Hewitt (at No. 22) in 1999.

Elsewhere, 2010 Rome semi-finalist Fernando Verdasco knocked out Kyle Edmund of Great Britain 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 23 minutes for a clash against fifth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem.

Fabio Fognini made Italian history at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, becoming the first player from his country to lift an ATP Masters 1000 trophy. And now, just weeks later, the World No. 12 will have a chance to become just the third Italian man to crack the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings. Furthermore, Fognini can become the oldest player to reach the milestone for the first time since 38-year-old Ken Rosewall and 35-year-old Rod Laver on 23 August 1973, the first week of the ATP Rankings.

Corrado Barazzutti was the last Italian in the elite group the week of 22 January 1979. The only other Italian to break into the Top 10 was Adriano Panatta, who ascended as high as World No. 4 (24 August 1976).

Italians To Crack The Top 15

This week, though, Fognini will have an opportunity to join them if he performs well enough at his home ATP Masters 1000 tournament, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The 31-year-old, who turns 32 on 24 May, is tied for his career-best ATP Ranking of No. 12 (2,920), just 105 points behind No. 10 Marin Cilic (3,025).

In Rome, Cilic is defending 360 points from his semi-final appearance last year, while Fognini made the quarter-finals in 2018 for 180 points. So Fognini is beginning the tournament in better position than the Croat. But American John Isner, who is ranked 11th with 2,950 points, is only defending 10 points. Even though Isner will not be competing in Rome as he recovers from a stress fracture in his left foot, that will put him ahead of both Fognini and Cilic once points dropping this week are factored in.

So for Fognini to have a chance at becoming the third Italian man to crack the Top 10, he will need to make at least the semi-finals to have more points than Isner. If he does so, Fognini then would just have to match or exceed Cilic’s result. 

World No. 9 Juan Martin del Potro, who is still recovering from a knee injury he suffered last October, has only played two tournaments this season, competing on clay for the first time last week at the Mutua Madrid Open. He reached the quarter-finals at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com in February.

The Argentine has 810 points to defend through Roland Garros, of which he will need to defend 720 points on Paris’ terre battue. The ‘Tower of Tandil’ only has a 225-point lead over Fognini, so even if the Italian does not make a breakthrough this week, he will have an opening to pass both Del Potro and Cilic at Roland Garros. 

Points To Defend Through Roland Garros

Fognini is 31, and he turns 32 in less than two weeks. From the current Top 10, the oldest player to break into the elite group for the first time was Kevin Anderson, who did so in October 2015 as a 29-year-old. The next oldest is Kei Nishikori, who did so as a 24-year-old. So while Fognini has been ranked inside the Top 50 since September 2012 and first reached that milestone in April 2011, he has chipped away to move to the brink of the Top 10.

Although Laver and Rosewall technically ‘cracked’ the Top 10 at an older age than Fognini would, that is a function of the first ATP Rankings being released on 23 August 1973. Both Laver and Rosewall won several Grand Slam titles by their early 20s.

Age When Current Top 10 First Broke Into Top 10

No. 7 (Career High) Stefanos Tsitsipas, +2
The 20-year-old #NextGenATP star continued his rise up the ATP Rankings to a career-high No. 7 after reaching his second ATP Masters 1000 final of his career at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Djokovic). A winner at the Millennium Estoril Open (d. Cuevas) the previous week, Tsitsipas beat defending champion Alexander Zverev in the Madrid quarter-finals and five-time former titlist Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, before his eight-match winning streak came to an end. Earlier in the year, the Greek lifted the Open 13 Provence (d. Kukushkin) trophy and also advanced to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships final (l. to Federer). Read More & Watch Madrid Final Highlights

No. 4 (Joint Career High) Dominic Thiem, +1
The 25-year-old Austrian begins his fourth week at No. 4 in the ATP Rankings, a position he first held on 11 June 2017, following his first runner-up finish at Roland Garros. Thiem beat Reilly Opelka, Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters winner Fabio Fognini and saved two match points to beat three-time former champion Roger Federer in the Madrid quarter-finals. He has been an ever-present in the Top 10 since 6 June 2016.

View Latest ATP Rankings

No. 29 Stan Wawrinka, +5
The 33-year-old Swiss, who began the year at No. 66 in the ATP Rankings is now up to No. 29 after reaching the quarter-finals of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time since August 2018 at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The former World No. 3 beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Guido Pella and No. 7-ranked Kei Nishikori prior to losing to Nadal. He is now back in the Top 30 for the first time since 28 May 2018 (at No. 30).

No. 41 (Career High) Hubert Hurkacz, +11
The 22-year-old Pole qualified for Madrid — for his sixth appearance at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament — and reached the third round, where he lost to defending champion Alexander Zverev 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Hurkacz has risen from No. 86 at the start of the year to a career-high No. 41.

No. 75 Ricardas Berankis, +25
The 28-year-old Lithuanian was the biggest riser in the Top 100 over the past week, soaring 25 spots on the back of winning his 12th ATP Challenger Tour title at the Busan Open Challenger (d. Harris) in South Korea. Berankis was at a career-high No. 50 on 23 May 2016.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 16 Gael Monfils, +2
No. 21 Guido Pella, +5
No. 25 Lucas Pouille, +3
No. 27 Kyle Edmund, -5
No. 31 Dusan Lajovic, -7
No. 34 Frances Tiafoe, +3
No. 47 Mikhail Kukushkin, -7
No. 50 Adrian Mannarino, +6
No. 52 Taylor Fritz, +5
No. 53 Reilly Opelka, +5
No. 56 Philipp Kohlschreiber, -6
No. 57 John Millman, -9
No. 61 Sam Querrey, +4
No. 66 Leonardo Mayer, -6
No. 69 Filip Krajinovic, +5
No. 75 Yoshihito Nishioka, -9
No. 76 Casper Ruud, -5
No. 78 Federico Delbonis, -8
No. 79 Andrey Rublev, +7
No. 85 Bernard Tomic, -12
No. 86 Roberto Carballes Baena, +5
No. 96 Hugo Dellien, +13
No. 98 Guido Andreozzi, -6

Fabio Fognini and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga headline the first night session of this year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Monday in Rome. Borna Coric and #NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime open up the day session in a match between two of the game’s most promising young stars.

Fognini, seeded 10th, will have plenty of attention from the home crowd after winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title last month at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Although he trails Tsonga 1-4 in their FedEx ATP HeadHead rivalry, the Italian won their most recent match at the 2017 BNP Paribas Open. Tsonga is making his first appearance in Rome since 2015 and is a two-time quarter-finalist at this event. The Frenchman is 14-6 this season and clinched a title on home soil this February at the Open Sud de France (d. Herbert).

Coric, seeded 13th, will look for revenge on Auger-Aliassime after losing their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting this March in the Miami Open presented by Itau quarter-finals. The Croatian has reached at least the quarter-finals in four of his past six ATP Tour events. Auger-Aliassime aims to continue his outstanding form on clay in 2019. The 18-year-old advanced to his first ATP Tour final this February at the Rio Open presented by Claro (l. to Djere).

Marco Cecchinato, seeded 16th, will look to delight the Campo Centrale crowd with a win against #NextGenATP Australian Alex de Minaur. The Italian has won all three of his ATP Tour titles on clay, including one this February at the Argentina Open (d. Schwartzman). De Minaur, who defeated Cecchinato in their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head match last year at Wimbledon, is searching for his first win on clay this season.

Other notable matches on Monday include 11th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov against Italian wild Lorenzo Sonego, 15th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils taking on Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas and #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov squaring off with Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.

ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, 13 MAY, 2019

CENTRALE start 11:00 am
[13] Borna Coric (CRO) vs Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
Not Before 1:00 pm
WTA match
Alex de Minaur (AUS) vs [16] Marco Cecchinato (ITA) Not Before 7:30 pm
[PR] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs [10] Fabio Fognini (ITA)
Not Before 9:00 pm
WTA match

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
Fernando Verdasco (ESP) vs Kyle Edmund (GBR)
Not Before 12:00 noon
[WC] Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) vs [11] Karen Khachanov (RUS)
Two WTA matches
Not Before 7:00 pm
Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs Jeremy Chardy (FRA)

PIETRANEGLI start 11:00 am
Two WTA matches
Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) vs Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
[Q] Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) vs [15] Gael Monfils (FRA)
WTA match

COURT 1 start 11:00 am
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs Laslo Djere (SRB)
WTA match
[Q] Casper Ruud (NOR) vs [Q] Daniel Evans (GBR)
WTA match
[3] Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL) / Robert Farah (COL) vs Rohan Bopanna (IND) / Dominic Inglot (GBR)

COURT 2 start 11:00 am
WTA match
[6] Raven Klaasen (RSA) / Michael Venus (NZL) vs Alexander Zverev (GER) / Mischa Zverev (GER)
WTA match
John Millman (AUS) vs [Q] Camerin Norrie (GBR)
WTA match

COURT 3 start 11:00 am
Two WTA matches
ATP – [5] Oliver Marach (AUT) / Mate Pavic (CRO) vs Ben McLachlan (JPN) / Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
WTA match

COURT 4 start 11:00 am
Ivan Dodig (CRO) / Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs [4] Nikola Mektic (CRO) / Franko Skugor (CRO)
Radu Albot (MDA) / Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) vs [8] Henri Kontinen (FIN) / John Peers (AUS)
[1] Lukasz Kubot (POL) / Marcelo Melo (BRA) vs [WC] Simone Bolelli (ITA) / Andreas Seppi (ITA)
Lucas Pouille (FRA) / Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs Borna Coric (CRO) / Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)
Matwe Middelkoop (NED) / Gilles Simon (FRA) vs Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) / Joao Sousa (POR)

Count quick thinking among the many talents of 17-year-old Jannik Sinner, the Italian who energised his home fans by upsetting American Steve Johnson on Sunday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

Barely an hour after his come-from-behind 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 win, the #NextGenATP Italian was already pointing out the strategic advantage he holds over his second-round opponent, World No. 7 and Mutua Madrid Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas. But that’s not to say he was particularly looking forward to the meeting.

“Yeah, Stefanos next. Ha, ha,” Sinner said before sighing and pausing. “The good thing is that I know him, and he doesn’t know me.”

The Italian burst into a giddy laugh, the chuckle you’d expect from a baby-faced teenager having the best day of his life so far.

Two months ago, Sinner, then-No. 546 in the ATP Rankings, was becoming the youngest Italian to win an ATP Challenger Tour title in Bergamo. On Sunday, the teenager with an all-around game was the subject of selfie and autograph requests from everyone within reach in Rome.

“For Italians here, it’s pretty important. It’s the biggest tournament in Italy. So it’s never easy to play with such a big crowd,” Sinner said. “I’m very happy… They pushed me a lot in difficult situations, and I’m very proud of them, and let’s see how the tournament will go.”

Sinner broke Johnson as he attempted to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third to bring Campo Centrale to life on day one of Italy’s ATP Masters 1000 event.

The Italian, now No. 263, had watched videos of Johnson’s matches before and had decided to attack the American’s weaker backhand side to open up his forehand wing. The tactic carried him in the second and third sets.

“I think I tried to do it even in the first set, sometimes maybe I rushed a little bit too much. But anyways I’m very proud that I could get the situation under control,” he said.

These are high times for Italian tennis, thanks to Sinner and a few of his countrymen. Fabio Fognini, 31, became the first Italian since Nicola Pietrangeli in 1968 to win the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, and the Sanremo native is one place away from cracking the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by an Italian since Corrado Barazzutti on 22 January 1979.

Roman Matteo Berrettini, only 23, won his second ATP Tour title last month at the Hungarian Open and hit a new career-high ATP Ranking of No. 31 last week. Another Italian closer to Sinner’s generation, Lorenzo Sonego of Turin, also 23, reached a career-high of No. 66 last month.

Asked if his Italian peers are inspiring him, Sinner said, “Yes, a lot, because I think every Italian wants to play here in Rome, and every Italian wants to be on a very high level. And I think we push each other.”

The competitive feelings extend to his #NextGenATP Canadian peers – Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov – as well. “They are doing a great job, especially Felix this year… I’m very happy that I can be with them here in Rome, even in Monte-Carlo, I was practising with them. I’ve still a lot to learn, but first of all I am proud that I can play with them,” Sinner said.

On top of all that for Italy, in two years, the country will have three of the biggest ATP Tour events on the calendar: the Rome Masters 1000 event and, the final two events to end the season in November, the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and the ATP Finals in Turin, which moves there from London for a five-year stint, starting in 2021.

Who’s Sinner Chasing? View The ATP Race To Milan

But Sinner is focused on his tennis, not the Next Gen ATP Finals just yet, although he’s 14^th in the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players who compete at the 21-and-under event.

The teenager grew up in South Tyrol, a duo-language region made up of northeast Italy and southwest Austria, and an area known for its skiing, not its forehands.

Sinner could have easily become an aspiring Olympic skier. He was an Italian competitive skiing champion in 2008 and finished second place in 2012, and had mixed feelings about tennis, quitting at the age of seven, about 2009, but coming back to the sport – and enjoying it once more – one year later.

At 14, he started training with Riccardo Piatti, the former coach of Milos Raonic, Ivan Ljubicic and Richard Gasquet, among others, and one of the current coaches for Borna Coric.

“At the end I decided tennis,” Sinner said. “Skiing for me was not that long. You can just go for two minutes or something like that. I like playing more, and I decided tennis because I enjoyed it more.”

From skiing – and tennis – he learned how to master pressure, a feeling he looked free of on Sunday. But it’s a sensation he might know well should a third set against Tsitsipas arise later this week.

“He plays pretty aggressive,” Sinner said. “I have to try to play my best tennis, which is not easy against him, but I think I can do a great job out there.”

Did You Know?
At this time last year, Sinner was ranked No. 1,480 in the ATP Rankings.

Does tennis possess the basketball equivalent of an assist?

Novak Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open Sunday, with the Serbian’s forehand sizzling from start to finish. Djokovic struck 14 forehand winners to Tsitsipas’ seven, but those numbers only begin to tell the story of overall forehand performance.

Forehand winners are often delivered as a decisive blow to end the point, bringing the crowd to its feet with spectacular speed, spin and direction. But we often fail to connect the dots to see where this dominant shot was initially born.

Djokovic and Tsitsipas combined to hit 21 forehand groundstroke winners, with a staggering 90 per cent (19/21) occurring when the player started the point serving. This uncovers an undeniable link between the first shot of the rally and the last, with the serve providing a valuable assist for the forehand winner.

All seven of Tsitsipas’ forehand winners occurred when he was serving, while 12 of Djokovic’s 14 forehand winners came after his serve. The following data shows the breakdown of forehand winners for the match.

Serve +1 Forehand Winners
• Djokovic = 3
• Tsitsipas = 4

Return +1 Forehand Winners
• Djokovic = 1
• Tsitsipas = 0

Rally Forehand Winners (from the fifth shot onwards)

• Djokovic 10 (9 when serving)
• Tsitsipas 3

Both Djokovic and Tsitsipas totaled four forehand winners each in the 0-4 shot rally length, displaying an evenness in the “First Strike” phase of the point. Once the rally reached five shots or longer, it was Djokovic who clearly took the honours, amassing 10 forehand winners to only three for Tsitsipas. Overall, 77 per cent (17/22) of all forehand winners for the match occurred in single digit rallies, with five making it to double digits.

Length of Rally/Forehand Winners
3 shots = 7
4 shots = 1
5 shots = 5
6 shots = 1
7 shots = 1
9 shots = 1
11 shots = 3
13 shots = 1
17 shots = 1

Over half of the forehand winners (12/21) struck by both players were in the three and five-shot rally lengths, which were essentially the first two times the player had an opportunity to hit a forehand winner after starting the point with a serve.

Backhand Performance
When you compare forehand metrics to backhand for this match, you can clearly see very different behaviour to what provided the assist the most. Djokovic hit 10 backhand groundstroke winners for the match, with only four of them coming behind his own serve. Tsitsipas hit three backhand winners for the match, with only one of them occurring when he was serving.

This type of analysis helps look at our sport from a slightly different perspective. Is it better to evaluate how a point ended by initially recognizing how it began?

Editor’s Note: ATP Brain Game author Craig O’Shannessy is part of Novak Djokovic’s coaching team.

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.

Novak Djokovic has won many titles in his career; 74, to be exact. But the timing of his triumph at the Mutua Madrid Open was more important than the victory in itself.

“I feel like this tournament win was very important for my level of confidence because after Australian Open I wasn’t playing my best, I wasn’t finding the right game and the consistency on the court in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo,” Djokovic said. “I felt like I was close and needed a little bit of a push, so to say.”

When the World No. 1 arrived in the Spanish capital, he had made just one quarter-final since the Australian Open. The Serbian’s dip in form was surprising considering before then, he had advanced to at least the semi-finals at nine of his previous 10 tournaments, including three Grand Slam titles and two ATP Masters 1000 triumphs.

So although there was no panic after Djokovic’s performances at Indian Wells (R32), Miami (R16) and Monte-Carlo (QF), he wanted to get back on track. He leaves Madrid after tying Rafael Nadal’s record with his 33rd Masters 1000 title.

“A very important win came yesterday against Thiem [in the semi-finals] in a very close match. And today Stefanos, who had an amazing match and win last night against Rafa, [it] probably affected him a little bit. He did not, I think, move as well as he did last night and he was probably a bit tired,” Djokovic said. “But my goal was to start off well to try to break as soon as possible, which was the case right away, and I felt I was always ahead in the game. I felt I was dictating the play and played my best tennis so far this week.”

Tsitsipas beat two Top 5 players this week in reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev and five-time winner Nadal. But he was blown away by one thing in particular from Djokovic’s side of the court.

“He has the best backhand on Tour I have ever seen in a human being. He controls it so well. He can play cross, he can play down the line the same way and that’s very difficult to deal with,” Tsitsipas said. “Usually some players have a good stroke, but it’s not that consistent. So I find if he’s in a day where his serve works pretty well, the placement of his serve, his forehand is not his biggest weapon. He can hit it but it’s not his biggest weapon. But he can, if the backhand and the serve work really well, that is why he has been dominating for so many years.”

“I want to thank him for the nice compliment. I actually thought my forehand was working very well today. I could hit it from any corner. Backhand was very solid, of course,” Djokovic said. “I was just dictating the play. I didn’t really give him too much time to set himself up for a ball or try to come into the net. I tried to play fast. I tried to play deep. I tried to change the pace and direction of the ball and it has worked well.”

Everything clicked in the tournament for Djokovic, who has now left the Caja Magica with the trophy three times. The manner in which Djokovic triumphed — he did not lose a set at this event — gives him plenty of momentum as he tries to stand alone by winning a record 34th Masters 1000 trophy at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

“It’s a great honour to have this trophy and to win in one of the biggest tournaments in the world,” Djokovic said. “[It’s] at the very important time for me in the year, in the season, because this gives me a lot of confidence prior to Rome and, of course, Roland Garros where I definitely want to play my best.”