Novak Djokovic, preparing for the French Open, entered the next round of the Italian Open tennis tournament by registering a hard-fought win against world number 61 Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Djokovic, who is trying to win his seventh title in this clay court tournament, defeated Etcheverry 7-6 (5), 6-2. Djokovic is returning to the court after three weeks due to a right elbow injury. Djokovic will next face Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6(3).
In other men’s matches, local player Yannick Sinner beat Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1, 6-4, Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin beat Felix Auger Aliassime 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, Fabio Fognini of Italy Miomir Kekmanovic 6-3, 7-6(6) and seventh seed Holger Roon beat Arthur Fils 6-3, 6-3. Sixth seed Andre Rublev defeated Alex Molkan 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.
He will take on the winner of the match between 27th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Guido Pella in the third round. In the women’s singles, top seed Inga Swiatek took a strong step towards winning her third title in Rome with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. In other matches, Paula Badosa beat last year’s runner-up Ons Jabour 6-1, 6-4, ninth seed Maria Sakari beat Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-3 and Karolina Muchova defeated 18th seed Martina Trevisan. Defeated 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
