Prossimo articoloWhy This Time Flavio Cobolli Can Really Go Further

Rome - 10/05

Tie-BreakfastMay 10May 10, 20266 min

Good morning and welcome back to TIE-Breakfast: all the tennis you need with your breakfast.

Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000 and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30.

Today is Sunday, May 10, in Rome it's 08:30 and it's 17 degrees. Ok, let's go.

On today's menu

🇮🇹 Sinner returns to the Foro: 6-3 6-4 over Ofner on debut
🇧🇾 Sabalenka falls to Cirstea: world number one out in the third round
🇮🇹 Paolini bows out of Rome as defending champion: three match points wasted against Mertens
🇮🇹 Cobolli, Bellucci and Pellegrino: an Italian day on the men's side
🇮🇹 Musetti faces Cerundolo, Cocciaretto draws Świątek

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇮🇹 Sinner Returns To Centre Court

Jannik Sinner beat Sebastian Ofner 6-3 6-4 in the evening match that opened his Roman week, after a first-round bye and weeks in which questions about his physical condition had shadowed every practice session. The score suggests a controlled match, but anyone watching Centre Court saw a Sinner who searched for rhythm in patches, especially in his service games in the second set, when Ofner managed to find answers on the second serve. More than the quality of the tennis, on nights like these what matters is the feeling of stepping back into a tournament that has always carried particular weight for him in Rome. The Foro crowd had waited a long time for this moment, and you could tell.

🇧🇾 Cirstea Comes Back On Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka was beaten by Sorana Cirstea 2-6 6-3 7-5, in a match where the world number one had won the first set and then gone up 2-0 in the third before being broken back; down 3-4, she called a medical timeout for her back, came back and immediately got the break, but then dropped serve in the decisive game at 5-5. Cirstea, the 36-year-old Romanian who has always known how to find matches like this in Rome, kept replying deep even when Sabalenka was pushing to close the rally. It's the kind of defeat that leaves more questions than answers, because it doesn't tell the story of a clear collapse but of a gradual loss of focus in the key moments. For Cirstea, on the other hand, it's one of those weeks you remember.

🇮🇹 Paolini Exits As Defending Champion

Jasmine Paolini lost to Elise Mertens 4-6 7-6(5) 6-3 after two hours and forty-one minutes, wasting three match points at 6-5 in the second set before falling in the tiebreak. The Tuscan, who had written one of the most important pages of her career in Rome, was knocked out in the third round and will lose enough points to slip out of the top ten. Mertens played the way she knows how when her opponent has to close: no errors, extending the rally until something breaks on the other side. Defending a title in Rome has always been one of the hardest things on the calendar, and yesterday it became clear why.

🇮🇹 Cobolli, Bellucci And Pellegrino Fly The Flag

Flavio Cobolli beat Terence Atmane 7-6 6-3 on his debut, Mattia Bellucci came back to defeat Tomás Etcheverry 5-7 6-2 6-3, and Andrea Pellegrino went through thanks to Arthur Fils' retirement at 4-0 in the first set. Three different wins in weight and context, but together they tell the story of a day in which Italian tennis found answers from players who had arrived in Rome with relatively low expectations. Cobolli and Bellucci, in particular, had the patience to handle awkward opponents in their respective opening main-draw matches. Pellegrino took the gift of a draw that opens up, and in tournaments like this it rarely happens.

🇦🇷 Navone Surprises Auger-Aliassime

Mariano Navone eliminated Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 7-6 in a match decided entirely in the two tiebreaks, in which the Canadian paid for some hurried choices on the decisive points. The Argentine, a clay specialist who had stayed somewhat in the shadows in recent weeks, found in Rome the match he needed to give meaning back to a complicated spring. Auger-Aliassime is thus out of a tournament where expectations had grown after his strong showing in Madrid. Rome, as always, struggles to respect the rankings on paper.

WHAT HAPPENS TODAY:

🇺🇦 Svitolina vs Baptiste - Opens the Centre Court schedule at 11:00. The Ukrainian is trying to keep the rhythm she found in her first two matches, the American is the kind of player who can spring a surprise on clay if her day comes together.
🇩🇪 Zverev vs Blockx - Not before 13:00 on Centre Court. The world number three faces the young Belgian in a match with a clear forecast on paper, but in Rome Zverev has always had to sweat more than expected.
🇮🇹 Musetti vs Cerundolo - Not before 15:00 on Centre Court. A third round that counts as Lorenzo's first real test of the tournament, against an opponent who on clay has the tools and the physicality to push him at high tempos.
🇮🇹 Cocciaretto vs Świątek - Centre Court night session. The player from Marche meets one of the best in the world on clay, after building a week that's already valuable for her ranking.
🇮🇹 Arnaldi vs Jodar - Centre Court night session. A match in which the player from Sanremo starts as favourite but with all the weight of the moment, after his win two days ago against De Minaur.
🇮🇹 Darderi vs Paul - On the second court to follow. The Italian-Argentine against the American: clay against fast by nature, in a match that could go longer than expected.

To go deeper

Enjoy your breakfast and have a great day.

See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast