Bad weather, canceled the first doubles. Now in the Alcaraz field

The 80th Internazionali BNL d’Italia are starting to get underway. Saturday 13 May will be the day of the blue derby between Lorenzo Musetti and Matteo Arnaldi, scheduled as the last match on the Central, and the last seeds of the men’s draw will take to the field for their respective debuts.

THE PROGRAM IS DELAYED DUE TO THE RAIN – The program started at 11.30, but after a few minutes the game was suspended again due to bad weather. The meetings resumed at 12.45. Andrey Rublev was the first to win a match against Slovakian Molcan today. Play was stopped again at 2.10pm and resumed at 3.15pm.

CANCELED THE FIRST DOUBLE – The tournament management has communicated the cancellation of some doubles matches, scheduled as the last matches on the side courts: Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski against Matwe Middelkoop/ Andreas Mies; Nikola Mektic/Mate Pavic versus Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos; Maximo Gonzalez/Andres Molteni vs. Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury; Robin Haase/Botic van de Zandschulp versus Santiago Gonzalez/Edouard Roger-Vasselin. In women’s doubles Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs advance without playing via walkover due to missing pair Alternate

Joe Salisbury

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Robin Haase
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Santiago Gonzalez
Edouard Roger-Vasselin

Lorenzo Musetti vs Matteo Arnaldi – Central, last match not before 20:30

The most awaited match of the day by the Italian public, but probably not only, is the derby between Musetti and Arnaldi. Divided by one year of age, the 21-year-old from Carrara is ready for his debut in this edition of the Roman Masters 1000 in which he appears for the first time as seeded (18), the 2001-year-old from Sanremo is instead in his second presence in the tournament and is back in the draw thanks to a wild card.

The victory in the first round against Schwartzman was another piece put by Arnaldi in the mosaic of his growth path, whose last stages were the first ATP victory in Barcelona and the success against the world number 4 Ruud in Madrid which led to the debut in the top-100. Musetti also recently found the most important success of his career, in the second round in Monte-Carlo against the leader of the ranking Novak Djokovic, and is called to confirm his victory in the only previous challenger in Barletta in 2019.

Carlos Alcaraz vs Albert Ramos-Viñolas – Centrale, second non-prime match 13

Speaking of the Serbian, his destiny is to lose the crown of king of the men’s ranking right in Rome. In fact, Alcaraz will in all likelihood wear it, who after his triumph in Madrid by simply completing the match against his compatriot Ramos-Viñolas will return to number 1 in the world. The encounter with the Murciano, who last September became the youngest leader ever in the era of computerized rankings at 19 years and 4 months, is doubly special for him.

Opposite you will find the player against whom he won his first match at ATP level three years ago in Rio de Janeiro. Since that February 17, 2020, his climb to the top has been dizzying to say the least.

Lorenzo Sonego vs Yoshihito Nishioka – Central, third match from 11

Afterwards, always on the main field of the Foro Italico, Sonego will return to action who will face the Japanese 25th seeded force Nishioka for the second time in his career. The Turinese, winning on his debut with a clear 62 61 against Chardy, won the first precedent in 2019 in the qualifiers in Monte-Carlo in three sets and in Rome his best result is the 2021 semifinal lost against the future champion Djokovic.

Daniil Medvedev vs Emil Ruusuvuori – Pietrangeli, Quarto match dalle 11

Among the last seeds expected for the debut at the 80th Internazionali BNL d’Italia, in addition to the aforementioned Alcaraz, Tsitsipas, Rublev and Zverev, there is also Medvedev who has already played three games at the Foro Italico, however finding as many defeats . The Russian number 3 in the world will try to reverse this negative trend against the Finnish Ruusuvuori also to bring Alcaraz closer to the top of the Live Race, the ranking based only on the results of 2023. Medvedev has so far won 33 out of 38 matches this season and won four titles including the Miami Masters 1000 beating Sinner in the final.

Victoria Azarenka vs Madison Keys – Grand Stand Arena, fourth match not before 5pm

Not only men’s draw matches, fans will also be able to enjoy a high-level women’s match on Saturday at the Foro Italico. Opposite two top seeds of the draw like the n.14 Azarenka and the n.19 Keys. The Belarusian former world No. 1 and two-time Australian Open champion was a finalist in Rome in 2013, losing to Serena Williams who became the only player to date to complete the double with Madrid that year.

Three years later, the 28-year-old from Rock Island would also undergo the same treatment and would never be able to repeat herself on Capitoline clay, however, reaching the final at the US Open in 2017. Azarenka won four of the previous five, clearly winning with a double 62 the only one played on this surface at Roland Garros 2021.