The Internazionali BNL d’Italia is not off to a good start for the Italian contingent. In the main draws, the women are 0-6 and the men are 2-6.
And guess what…. The two men who advanced out of the first round–Jannik Sinner and Fabio Fognini–have to play each other on Wednesday!
The good news for the Italian fans is that one of their guys is guaranteed to be in the last 16. And whether it’s Sinner or Fognini, the winner will have a great chance of making a deep run. That’s because potential third-round opponent Andrey Rublev lost to Filip Krajinovic on Tuesday and they are in the half of the draw opposite Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Carlos Alcaraz was initially in the bottom half, but he withdrew after winning his second Masters 1000 title of the season in Madrid.
Sinner, of course, is the more likely of the two remaining Italians to do serious damage in Rome and he got off to a routine start on Tuesday. The world No. 13 eased to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Pedro Martinez for his 22nd match win of 2022.
“Very pleased obviously,” Sinner commented. “It was a very warm welcome from all of them. It’s an incredible feeling playing here in Rome with a lot of crowds. I can be happy. I can do better for sure. Let’s see how it goes.”
Wednesday marks the first-ever head-to-head meeting between Sinner and Fognini.
“I got to know him a little bit more in Davis Cup,” the 20-year-old said of his 34-year-old countryman. “He gave me many, many things; some energy–because it was not easy for me for the first time last year in [Davis Cup]. For sure now it’s going to be tough for me (and) for him. It’s going to be a packed house. But I (will) just enjoy it. Hopefully it’s going to be a great match.
“I hope [the crowd support] will be equal, because he made a lot of history–especially here. And I start now, so it’s a little bit another generation.”
nice one, Jannik