Nine-time Rome Masters 1000 champion Rafael Nadal broke serve five times to beat Jannik Sinner 7-5 6-4 at the Foro Italico in the eagerly awaited last match of the third evening of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia at the Foro Italico in Rome.
Sinner took an early lead in each set, but Nadal fought back both times to take the win in 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Sinner earned a break in the first game with a forehand down the line winner. Nadal pulled the break back in the second game. Sinner got another break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead with a volley winner, but Nadal broke straight back to draw level to 3-3 after a forehand error from Sinner.
Sinner saved three straight set points, as he was serving at 4-5 and won the game with a service winner. Nadal converted his seventh set point at 6-5 to close out the first set with his forehand.
Sinner went up a break in the third game to open up a 4-2 lead, but Nadal won four consecutive games.
The Spaniard held at 15 in the seventh game and won four consecutive points on return in the eighth game to break back for 4-4.
Nadal converted his fourth match point with a forehand down the line winner to seal the second set 6-4.
Nadal will face a third round match against Denis Shapovalov, who beat Stefano Travaglia 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 after 1 hour and 35 minutes. Nadal leads 2-1 in his three head-to-head matches against Shapovalov and won their only previous clash on clay in Rome in 2018.
The Spaniard beat a Next Gen star for the second consecutive week after claiming a straight-set win over Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid.
“I was playing great in Madrid. There were a couple of bad games against Alexander Zverev in the quarter finals. Everything went wrong after that, despite the fact I looked good on the practice court. We have to adapt to different conditions, as they are entirely diffferent from Madrid. Jannik is one of the best players I could drawn. He is very young, and he improves his game every day. His ranking position is only getting better, and he plays with a lot of confidence. He played great in Miami to reach the final”, said Nadal.