The ATP1000 Rome Masters kicked off on Wednesday with several early surprises. In a match closely watched by Chinese fans, Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff saved a match point to defeat the only Chinese player in the draw, Zhang Zhizhen, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4, advancing to the second round where he will face second seed Alexander Zverev. Zhang’s European clay-court campaign has been disappointing, with first-round exits in all three tournaments he has played so far.
In other men’s singles action, Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi beat Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to record his first main draw win of the season. Next up for Arnaldi is sixth seed Alex de Minaur. Poland’s top player Hubert Hurkacz was upset by Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in three sets, suffering a first-round exit. Joining Hurkacz in an early departure was Spain’s Pablo Carreño Busta, who was blown away 2-6, 1-6 by Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.
The men’s singles draw saw a surprising four bagel sets. Portugal’s Nuno Borges demolished qualifier De Jong 6-3, 6-0, and will face 32nd seed Rafa Kothari in the second round. The other three bagels came from Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur, Australia’s Aleksandar Vukic, and Argentina’s Thiago Tirante. Dzumhur and Vukic defeated France’s Adrian Mannarino and USA’s Patrick Kypson respectively, while Tirante lost his second set after bageling his opponent and was eventually overturned by an American.
Other winners on the men’s side included Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff, Netherlands’ Botic van de Zandschulp, Argentina’s 170th-ranked Sebastian Baez, Czech Republic’s Vit Kopriva, and Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko.
On the women’s side, the WTA1000 Rome continued with first-round singles matches. Former champion and Czech star Karolina Pliskova rallied past Spain’s Laura Masaro 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to advance. Austria’s Tamara Korpatsch beat Hungary’s Anna Kalinskaya 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, and will face Czech star Karolina Muchova in the second round. American Claire Liu defeated Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2, 6-3 and will next challenge world No. 3 Iga Swiatek. Germany’s Julia Grabher defeated Britain’s Katie Boulter 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and will face Japan’s Naomi Osaka next.
The women’s singles also featured four bagels, matching the men’s total. Germany’s Tatjana Maria swept Poland’s Magda Linette 6-0, 6-3; Greece’s Maria Sakkari overcame lucky loser Tena Lukas 5-7, 6-3, 6-0; Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko crushed local wild card Stefania Rubini 6-0, 6-1; and Philippines’ Alexandra Eala defeated Poland’s Maja Chwalinska 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, setting up a meeting with China’s Wang Xinyu for the second time this year.
Other first-round winners included Katerina Siniakova, Zhang Shuai, Valentova, Sheila, Taylor Townsend, Udvardy, Viktorija Golubic, Masarova, Cocciaretto, Stephens, Grant, and Siegemund.
Turning to domestic events, in the ATP Challenger Wuxi second round, defending champion Sun Fajing of China lost a grueling three-setter 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-7(6) to Japan’s Rio Noguchi, ending his title defense. Another Chinese player, Cui Jie, saved a match point in the second-set tiebreak to defeat opponent Greg 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4, advancing to the quarterfinals. He will face Noguchi for a spot in the semifinals.
