On Monday, the ATP1000 Rome Masters continued with third-round singles action, while the WTA1000 Rome event saw its round of 16 completed. In a marquee match, second seed Alexander Zverev dominated Belgium’s rising star Blocks 6-1, 6-4 to advance. Zverev will next face home favorite Darderi, who rallied past 16th seed Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti also impressed, defeating Argentina’s F. Cerundolo 7-6(7), 6-4. However, 10th seed Alexander Bublik fell to American youngster Learner Tien in three sets, while 11th seed Jiri Lehecka was ousted in straight sets by Casper Ruud. Spanish teen sensation Rafa Hordar continued his hot streak, beating Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to reach his second straight Masters 16. He will next face Learner Tien. Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic, who stunned Novak Djokovic in the previous round, kept his run alive with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Ugo Humbert, setting up a clash with Karen Khachanov. The Russian defeated Botic van de Zandschulp in three sets.
On the women’s side, the WTA1000 Rome third round concluded without major surprises except for Madison Keys losing to Czech lucky loser Bartunkova and Liudmila Samsonova falling to Austria’s Potapova. Top seeds Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina, and Naomi Osaka all advanced. Pegula notably delivered a double bagel (6-0, 6-0) against Switzerland’s Massarova. The bottom-half fourth-round matchups are: Pegula vs Potapova, Osaka vs Swiatek, Svitolina vs Bartunkova, and Karolina Pliskova vs Rybakina.
In doubles, a Chinese derby saw the cross-strait pair of Wang Xinyu and Hsieh
