Rome - 17/05

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

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

Today is Sunday, May 17, in Rome it's 08:30 and it's 13 degrees. Ok, let's get started.

Today over breakfast

• 🇮🇹 Sinner completes the comeback against Medvedev and reaches the final at the Foro
• 🇺🇦 Svitolina beats Gauff 6-4 6-7(3) 6-2: third Rome title and twentieth of her career
• 🇮🇹 Bolelli-Vavassori in the doubles final: first Italian pair at the Foro in the Open Era
• 🇮🇹 Sinner-Ruud, ATP final on Centre Court not before 17:00
• 🇪🇸 Granollers-Zeballos vs 🇮🇹 Bolelli-Vavassori, doubles final from 14:00

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:

🇮🇹 Sinner Closes The Account With Medvedev

Resumption at 15:00 on Centre Court and wrap-up in just under half an hour: 6-2 5-7 6-4, twenty-four hours after the rain suspension with the score frozen at 4-2 and Medvedev serving. Sinner had two match points at 5-4 with Medvedev serving, neutralized by the Russian with four consecutive points on serve, then went to serve for the match and closed it on the third match point. More than the technical sequence, what stands out is the way you pick up a fifth service game of the third set after a night and half a day of pause, in a situation where the player ahead risks more than the one chasing: the thirty-third consecutive Masters 1000 win comes from one of the most uncomfortable resets the season had offered him. Tomorrow in Rome he also plays for the chance to become the second player ever, after Djokovic, to complete the Career Golden Masters.

🇺🇦 Svitolina Takes Rome, Three Times

Elina Svitolina beat Coco Gauff 6-4 6-7(3) 6-2 in two hours and forty-five minutes on Centre Court, completing the hat-trick at the Foro and reaching her twentieth career title. It's her first WTA 1000 since she won here in 2018, and the third meeting of the season against Gauff, who had returned to the Rome final one year on. In the deciding set the Ukrainian held a two-break lead and closed at the net on the third match point, after losing a second set in which she had been a break up and in which the tie-break had rewarded Gauff's cleaner play in the key moments. It's a tournament that meaningfully reshapes her standing on clay heading into Paris.

🇮🇹 Bolelli-Vavassori, A Historic Final

Bolelli and Vavassori defeated Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski 7-6(9) 3-6 10-6 in the semifinal, becoming the first Italian pair to reach a doubles final in Rome in the Open Era. It's a statistic that says a lot about how closed this draw has been to home specialists for decades, and how the Italian duo has turned into continuity what until recently looked like an isolated peak. The final today will be against Granollers and Zeballos, fresh off the 6-7(10) 7-5 10-2 they handed Krajicek and Mektic: two teams with opposite paths but with one clear point of contact, mastery of the super tie-break.

WHAT HAPPENS TODAY:

• 🇮🇹 Sinner vs 🇳🇴 Ruud - ATP final on Centre Court, not before 17:00. Fifth career meeting, with Sinner leading 4-0 and Ruud never having won a set, including the 6-0 6-1 in the Rome 2025 quarterfinals. More than the head-to-head, the context weighs: Sinner is playing for the Career Golden Masters at home, Ruud is the sixth active player to reach the final at all three Masters 1000 events on clay. Hard to ask a Rome final to carry more than this.
• 🇪🇸 Granollers / 🇦🇷 Zeballos vs 🇮🇹 Bolelli / 🇮🇹 Vavassori - Doubles final on Centre Court from 14:00, opening the program. For the Italians there's the chance to close in Rome a story that no Italian pair at the Foro had ever been able to write; for the Spaniard and the Argentine, hunting another 1000 on clay, there's confirmation of a season methodically built on the longer tournaments.
• WTA trophy ceremony - Afternoon on Centre Court with the trophy presentation to Svitolina, the final act of the women's draw before the ten days that separate Rome from Paris.

To dig deeper

• Jannik Sinner survives Daniil Medvedev test & late-night suspension to reach Rome final
• Jannik Sinner chases Career Golden Masters, Casper Ruud seeks first Rome crown
• "Just couldn't dream about a better year": Svitolina's post-maternity comeback reaches a Rome final
• On 'unreal' night, Svitolina beats Swiatek to reach third Rome final
• Simone Bolelli & Andrea Vavassori first Italian team to reach Rome final in Open Era
• Rain halts Rome semi-final summit, Sinner's hardest match since February

Enjoy your breakfast and have a great day.

See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast