Djokovic Opens Play Tues. In Rome; Young Italians Sinner, Musetti Advance

Young Italians Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti starred on the first full day of men’s play at the Rome Masters on Monday.

Sinner rolled past the tricky Ugo Humber 6-2, 6-4 to earn his 20th win of 2021. The win also sets him up for a big second meeting Wednesday against 9-time champion Rafael Nadal.

In the evening, Sinner’s fellow 19-year-old Lorenzo Musetti was leading 6-4, 2-0, 40-0 when Miami champion Hubert Hurkacz had to retire due to injury.

“It’s always incredible playing here in Rome,” Musetti said. “It’s a fantastic site here in Foro Italico. Even without crowd, tonight was really fun.”

The flashy Italian will return tomorrow to face the towering Reilly Opelka.

“I just know that he serves so good and he’s so tall. I will try to return as best as I can and try to focus on my service game,” Musetti said.

While the new Italians advanced, Fabio Fognini was knocked out by Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4.

Karen Khachanov’s tough 2021 continued after dropping a love deciding set in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 loss to qualifier Federico Delbonis.

Other winners were Aslan Karatsev, Cristian Garin and Taylor Fritz who will now meet 5-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic tomorrow. Djokovic leads 3-0 but Fritz pushed the Serb to five sets in a crazy match at the Australian Open this year.

Tuesday will also see the red-hot Matteo Berrettini battling Nikolaz Basilashvili, Karatsev returns to face Daniil Medvedev and Felix Auger-Aliassime faces Diego Schwartzman.

TUESDAY ROME SCHEDULE
Center Court Starts At 10:00 Am
(WC) Martina Trevisan v (DA) Yaroslava Shvedova
Not Before 11:30 Am
9 Matteo Berrettini v Nikoloz Basilashvili
1 Novak Djokovic v Taylor Fritz
Starting At 6.00PM
16 Johanna Konta v Jelena Ostapenko

Grand Stand Arena Starts At 10:00 Am
(Q) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina v 16 Grigor Dimitrov
Lorenzo Sonego v 14 Gael Monfils
12 Garbiñe Muguruza v Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Angelique Kerber v (Q) Alizé Cornet
Not Before 7:00 Pm v
R32 Aslan Karatsev v 3 Daniil Medvedev

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