Top seed Sinner returns to action with win in Rome, an “amazing feeling” for him
Jannik Sinner defeated Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday and will play Dutch lucky loser Jesper De Jong in the next round
Jannik Sinner, Rome 2025 | © Tristan Lapierre / Tennis Majors
Italian Jannik Sinner, the top seed, won against Argentinian Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4 to move into the third round of the Rome Masters at the Foro Italico in Rome on Saturday.
This was his first match since the Australian Open final due to a three-month period of ineligibility, and the win stretches his current streak to 22 matches. That makes him the youngest man to achieve that feat since Juan Martin del Potro in 2008.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Sinner said, according to the ATP website. “I waited quite long for this moment. I’m very happy to be back. It’s very difficult to have the right feedback when you don’t have any matches, and that’s exactly what I need. Now I think the best practice is the match itself, so I’m very happy about that.
“I’m very happy about the win today. It was very difficult. He is such a great player, especially on this surface. I tried to move around the ball. At times it went very well, at times it could have been better, yes, but in any case, it doesn’t matter about the result today. It has been a remarkable day for me, so I’m very happy.”
Hopefully I can play here one or two matches more to see where I’m at. That’s the main goal.
It was a relatively easy run-out for him, although he did concede a break in the second set as Navone levelled at 4-4 before reclaiming it and crossing the finish line.
“I feel like we prepared in the best possible way, but I missed the feedback of the matches. I have a bigger pictiure of what I’m doing well and what I can do better”, Sinner added.
The Italian, ranked No 1 despite three months without playing, will face Dutch lucky loser Jesper de Jong next. “Hopefully I can play here one or two matches more to see where I’m at. That’s the main goal.”
In the previous round of the Italian Open, Navone, ranked No 99, beat Italian wildcard Federico Cina (6-3, 6-3).
Rome Masters 1000, other second-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 8.055.385, most recent results first):
- Luca Nardi vs. Alex De Minaur: saturday
- Jaume Munar beat Ben Shelton (12): 6-2, 6-1
- Hugo Dellien (LL) beat Thiago Seyboth Wild (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Francisco Cerundolo (17) beat Nicolas Jarry: 7-6 (4), 6-3
- Jakub Mensik (20) beat Matteo Gigante (WC): 7-6 (4), 7-5
- Jesper De Jong beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (25): 6-0, 6-2
- Marcos Giron beat Taylor Fritz (4): 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3)
- Casper Ruud (6) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
- Hubert Hurkacz (30) beat Pedro Martinez Portero: 6-1, 7-5
- Sebastian Korda (22) beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-3, 6-4
- Tomas Machac (19) beat Learner Tien: 6-4, 6-4
- Sebastian Ofner (Q) beat Frances Tiafoe (15): 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3
- Tommy Paul (11) beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-1, 6-4
- Fabian Marozsan beat Andrey Rublev (16): 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
- Matteo Berrettini (29) beat Jacob Fearnley: 6-4, 7-6
- Alexander Zverev (2) beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli: 6-2, 6-1
- Jack Draper (5) beat Luciano Darderi: 6-1, 6-4
- Holger Rune (9) beat Francisco Comesana: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Vilius Gaubas (Q) beat Denis Shapovalov (27): 6-3, 6-4
- Vit Kopriva (Q) beat Sebastian Baez (32): 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Corentin Moutet beat Ugo Humbert (21): 6-3, 4-0 ret.
- Daniil Medvedev (10) beat Cameron Norrie (LL): 6-4, 6-2
- Laslo Djere beat Alex Michelsen (31): 6-0, 6-3
- Lorenzo Musetti (8) beat Otto Virtanen (Q): 6-3, 6-2
- Stefanos Tsitsipas (18) beat Alexandre Muller: 6-2, 7-6 (3)
- Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Dusan Lajovic (Q): 6-3, 6-3
- Alexei Popyrin (24) beat Carlos Taberner (Q): 6-1, 7-6 (4)
- Arthur Fils (13) beat Tallon Griekspoor: 6-2, 6-2
- Karen Khachanov (23) beat Roman Andres Burruchaga (Q): 6-4, 5-7, 6-1
- Francesco Passaro (WC) beat Grigor Dimitrov (14): 7-5, 6-3
- Jordan Thompson vs. Brandon Nakashima
