There was a mass exodus of seeded players from the Foro Italico on Saturday.
Unsurprisingly, Jannik Sinner was not among them.
Bidding for his sixth consecutive Masters title and fifth in a row this season, Sinner kicked off his Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Sebastian Ofner. The world No. 1 did not face a break point while advancing in one hour and 40 minutes.
Sinner, who finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz 12 months ago, has won every Masters 1000 on the ATP calendar other than Rome.
“It is an amazing feeling to be back,” the Italian assured. “The first match, the most important thing is not to lose. The level will eventually come day by day. I am very happy to be here. Since day one, this has been a very special tournament for me. Every year when you come here, you reflect a little bit, being Italian — and in a year, a lot of things can change.”
It was a short stay in Rome for Arthur Fils, Joao Fonseca, Ben Shelton, and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Fils did not win a single game before retiring from his match against Andrea Pellegrino in the first set due to an apparent back issue. Fonseca fell to Hamad Medjedovic in a third-set tiebreaker amidst a raucous atmosphere in SuperTennis Arena. Shelton lost a three-setter to Nikoloz Basilashvili, while Auger-Aliassime got upset by Mariano Navone 7-6(4), 7-6(5). Only two sets in Auger-Aliassime vs. Navone lasted two hours and 53 minutes.
Seeds Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Andrey Rublev, Frances Tiafoe, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Brandon Nakashima joined Sinner in the last 32. Medvedev got a walkover from Tomas Machac.