Internazionali BNL d’Italia—Rome, Italy
Alcaraz, Sabalenka Reach Third Round of 2025 Rome Masters
Friday’s ATP Tour and WTA Results
Friday’s action at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Italy saw the return of No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz to the ATP Tour. Missing last week’s Madrid Open with an abductor injury, Alcaraz returned with a flourish on Friday to dismiss Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-3.
Needing one hour and 23 minutes to advance, Alcaraz smashed 24 winners, hit three aces, won 72 percent of his first serve points, and broke his Serbian opponent on four occasions.
Improving to 5-0 against Lajovic in lifetime meetings, Alcaraz will next face either No. 31 seed Alex Michelsen or Laslo Djere.
Michelsen recently won a Challenger level event in Estoril, Portugal.
Other winners on the day featured No. 13 seed Arthur Fils, No. 23 seed Karen Khachanov, No. 24 seed Alexei Popyrin, No. 28 Brandon Nakashima and Italian Francesco Passaro advancing to the round of 32. Passaro ousted No. 15 seed Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-3.
Saturday’s action will see the return of world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. The Italian will play Marino Navone in his first match since the Australian Open. The Italian recently completed a three-month doping ban from a 2024 incident.
Sabalenka Rolls into Round 3
The best player on the planet, Aryna Sabalenka, continued her push towards a Roland Garros title on Friday, advancing to the round of 32 in Rome, Italy with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Anastasia Potapova.
Known for her power off the ground, Sabalenka won 80 percent of her first serve points and broke her opponent on four occasions.
The top seed will next face former Australian Open winner and No. 31 seed Sofia Kenin. Kenin defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-0 earlier in the day.
Other winners on Friday included No. 8 seed Qinwen Zheng, No. 22 seed Clara Tauson, No. 26 seed Magdalena Frech, and No. 30 seed Linda Noskova.
No. 4 seed Coco Gauff and No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva will be in action later today. Gauff will face Victoria Mboko from Canada, and Andreeva will take on Emiliana Arango from Colombia.
On Saturday, No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek will return to action, facing No. 29 seed Danielle Collins.
Stay tuned for daily coverage from TennisConnected.com, including match analysis, updated draws, and all the latest results.
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