Play begins in Rome, top seeds prepare

Fabio Fognini crashes out of Rome at the hands of Lukas Rosol on the second day of action. Fellow seeds Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Grigor Dimitrov, and Mikhail Youzhny have better luck, while No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic begins his bid for the title on Tuesday.

The mercurial Fabio Fognini has suddenly hit a snag following his hot start to the season. Playing at home in his first-round match on Tuesday, Fognini went down to Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-2 in just one hour and seven minutes at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Rosol did not face a single break point in the entire match as he dropped the 15th-ranked Italian to a modest 5-4 during the current clay-court swing.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also dealt with a tough opening-round matchup but managed to get past Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6(5). Tsonga served at 68 percent and fired eight aces without double-faulting to advance in one hour and 27 minutes.

The Frenchman comes up with a great shot late in the second set:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT2Ctz-OTeQ]

Seeds Grigor Dimitrov and Mikhail Youzhny also advanced to the last 32. Dimitrov recovered from an early deficit to beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Youzhny also defeated a Frenchman–Nicolas Mahut by a 6-4, 6-4 decision. Next up for Dimitrov on Wednesday is 6’11” Croat Ivo Karlovic.

Pablo Carreno Busta, who lost to Karlovic in a third-set tiebreaker

Marcel Granollers after his straight-set victory over fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez:

Pre-tournament interview of Novak Djokovic, who faces Radek Stepanek on Tuesday:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmTRertsnM8]

Pre-tournament interview of Andy Murray, who awaits Marcel Granollers:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqIpXLvN_eY]

Pre-tournament interview of Stanislas Wawrinka, who begins his campaign against Pere Riba:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXDreS1KwfA]