Today’s program at the Internazionali: Sinner, Paolini, Cobolli

Today will be Sinner day at the Internazionali d’Italia. The long-awaited moment of the world no.1’s debut in Rome will finally arrive. Jannik will take to the court in the evening session, as his first match on Centrale, at 7pm. He will challenge Sebastian Ofner: only one precedent, at Challenger level, won by a young Sinner in 2019. Therefore, after having almost always played in the daytime session in Madrid, Jannik will get a taste of tennis again in the late afternoon. Belinda Bencic and Anna Kalinskaya will play after him. But during the day there will still be an Italian on Centrale: Jasmine Paolini will take the field in the second match, not before 1pm, against Elise Mertens. The Belgian is ahead 4-1 in previous matches, the only victory of the reigning champion of the Forum dates back to Indian Wells 2021.

Italians

—

However, there will also be three other Italians involved today at the Foro Italico. The most awaited is Flavio Cobolli, n.10 in the seeding: he will take the field against Terence Atmane as the third match on the Bnp Paribas Arena, around 2.30pm. The precedents read 1-1, with the Frenchman winning a comeback in Cincinnati last year, and Flavio triumphant in Delray Beach in February. Closing the program of the second most important field will be Andrea Pellegrino, qualified, who will face Arthur Fils, n.15 in the seeding. It will be the fifth match, therefore around 6pm. The Apulian is fresh from his first victory in a 1000. The other Italian remaining is Mattia Bellucci, who will challenge Tomas Etcheverry, 24th seed, as the second match on the SuperTennis Arena, after Rublev-Kecmanovic. They will then play around 1pm.

the big names

—

Tomorrow all the big names from the top part of the men’s draw will also take to the field. Daniil Medvedev, champion in 2023 and seeded no.7, will open the Centrale program at 11am against Tomas Machac. While the fourth strength of the draw, Felix Auger-Aliassime, will challenge Mariano Navone at around 12.30 on the BNP Paribas Arena, at the end of Gauff-Sierra. Ben Shelton, America’s No. 1 and fifth seed in Rome, will instead be the protagonist on the SuperTennis Arena as the third match. An intriguing challenge, around 2pm, with Nikoloz Basilashvili, who comes from the qualifiers. At the end a match with a flavor of the future between Joao Fonseca, n.27 in the seeding, and Hamad Medjedovic. It will be Popyrin and Mensik, a match whose winner would be Sinner’s eventual opponent in the third round, who will be the last to take to that field. Around 6pm, shortly after Mirra Andreeva and Viktorija Golubic, who will be the fourth on the Bnp Paribas Arena, before Pellegrino-Fils.