Three other Italian protagonists in addition to Jannik: Cobolli for the first time on central, then it will be the turn of Bellucci and Pellegrino
On Monday 11 May, Jannik Sinner returns to the pitch. Today the Italian will play his third round against Alexei Popyrin, as the last match on Centrale in the daytime session. The two will take to the field no earlier than 3pm, following Cirstea-Noskova and Gauff-Jovic. It will be the fourth meeting, Sinner is ahead 2-1 after having won the last two, while the Australian’s victory dates back to 2021. However, they have never faced each other on clay, and they will do so at the home of Jannik, who aims to reach the round of 16 at the Foro for the fifth time in his career. And he will be one of the four Italians who will take the field today with this objective.
the blues
—
Flavio Cobolli will play for the first time in his career for Centrale at the Internazionali d’Italia. He will open the evening session, therefore at 7pm, against the qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante. The two have faced each other only once on the major circuit level, with the Argentine’s rather surprising victory in Miami, on hard courts, last March. And, being a similar age, they know each other very well. Similar age also for Mattia Bellucci, who in the first third round 1000 of his career will open the program of the Bnp Paribas Arena against Martin Landaluce, lucky loser, with certainly good expectations. After him, at around 1pm, it will be Andrea Pellegrino’s time. At the first main draw 1000 will play the third round, and will challenge the n.20 seed Frances Tiafoe. Also on the court are Errani/Paolini, seeded no. 1 in doubles, against the wildcards Maduzzi/Paganetti, last match on the SuperTennis Arena, around 7pm. Before them, at around 5.30pm, Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori will also make their debuts, against Bhambri/Venus.
the big names
—
Excluding the Italians, there will also be no shortage of big names today. Daniil Medvedev will make his debut after Machac’s failure in the second round. He will challenge the qualifier Pablo Llamaz Ruiz as the fourth match on the BNP Paribas Arena, around 5pm, after the two previously mentioned Italians, and Svitolina-Bartunkova. Closing the camp program is the big women’s match of the day, between two former world No. 1s, Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka. Just as the Centrale, not before 8.30 pm, will be closed by a WTA match: the n.2 Elena Rybakina against another former world leader such as Karolina Pliskova, a cross between former champions of the tournament. On the SuperTennis Arena, at 11am, it will be Rublev-Davidovich Fokina’s turn, followed by Nakashima-Basilashvili. One of these four could be Sinner’s eventual opponent in the quarterfinals.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
