The draw ceremony for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia was held on Monday evening and the result is what looks like a balanced bracket for the third and final clay-court Masters 1000 tournament of the season.
Novak Djokovic is back after missing the Mutua Madrid Open and he is the top seed, looking for his seventh Rome title. He has been to the final an amazing 12 times, including in each of his last four trips (two titles, two runner-ups). The world No. 1 will kick off his 2023 campaign in the Italian capital against one of two in-form players in Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Luca Van Assche. Familiar foes Grigor Dimitrov and Stan Wawrinka are potential third-round opponents, while Holger Rune and Felix Auger-Aliassime also find themselves in the top quarter.
Also in the top half of the draw are Casper Ruud and Jannik Sinner. With Ruud struggling bigtime this season, a red-hot Sinner has to like his chances of reaching at least the semifinals in front of the Italian crowd. The 21-year-old, who is 26-6 in 2023 and up to eighth in the rankings, has a favorable path all the way around. He could face Sebastian Baez in the third round, Francisco Cerundolo in the last 16, and either Ruud or Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals.
At the bottom of the bracket is Carlos Alcaraz, who is making his debut appearance at the Rome Masters. The 20-year-old Spaniard is a dominant 29-2 this season with four titles, including two at the Masters 1000 level (Indian Wells and this past weekend in Madrid). Alcaraz is on collision course with Jiri Lehecka for the round 32, Borna Coric for the round of 16, and either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Italy’s own Lorenzo Musetti for the quarters.
Without question the deepest and most up for grabs section is the one opposite Alcaraz in the bottom half of the draw. No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev is especially vulnerable on relatively slow clay and he is in a section that also boasts Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Hubert Hurkacz, Alexander Zverev, Roberto Bautista Agut, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Emil Ruusuvuori. Medvedev’s opening match will likely come against Ruusuvuori prior to a possible fourth-round date with either Hurkacz or Zverev.
First-round matches to watch in Rome include Ruusuvuori vs. Ugo Humbert, Wawrinka vs. Ilya Ivashka, Andy Murray vs. Fabio Fognini, and Richard Gasquet vs. Yibing Wu.
The Murray-Fognini winner will meet Miomir Kecmanovic in round two and potentially Rune in round three.
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WWW?
Bottom half of the draw is scary….glad to see Joker back in the mix.