Italian Open: Rublev beats Molcan before rain stops play again in Rome

Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 6 seed, beat Slovak Alex Molcan 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round of the Rome Masters at the Foro Italico on Saturday.

Rublev, ranked No 6, will play the winner of the match between Argentinian Guido Pella and Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the No 27 seed, next.

The Russian No. 2 will have been relieved to win out in straight sets and make it safely through to round three, before the rain stopped play again in the Italian capital, following a delayed start to play due to the weather.

Molcan, ranked No 59, edged out Italian qualifier Stefano Napolitano (6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (1)) in the previous round of the Italian Open.

Rome Masters, other second-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Matteo Arnaldi
• Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Marco Cecchinato
• David Goffin vs. Alexander Zverev
• Yannick Hanfmann vs. Taylor Fritz
• Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Daniel Altmaier vs. Frances Tiafoe
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Nuno Borges
• Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. J.J. Wolf
• Jiri Lehecka vs. Fabian Marozsan
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Jason Kubler
• Guido Pella vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Daniel Evans: saturday
• Borna Coric vs. Thiago Monteiro: saturday
• Casper Ruud (4) beat Arthur Rinderknech: 6-4, 6-0
• Holger Rune (7) beat Arthur Fils (Q): 6-3, 6-3
• Novak Djokovic (1) beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry: 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Alexander Bublik beat Ben Shelton (28): 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
• Cristian Garin beat Tommy Paul (16): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Fabio Fognini (WC) beat Miomir Kecmanovic (30): 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Gregoire Barrere beat Karen Khachanov (11): 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Laslo Djere beat Botic van de Zandschulp (23): 6-2, 6-4
• Roman Safiullin (Q) beat Sebastian Korda (22): 6-2, 7-6 (5)
• Grigor Dimitrov (26) beat Stan Wawrinka: 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Alexander Shevchenko (LL) beat Sebastian Baez: 6-3, 6-4
• Marton Fucsovics beat Alex De Minaur (17): 6-3, 6-4
• Jannik Sinner (8) beat Thanasi Kokkinakis (Q): 6-1, 6-4
• Francisco Cerundolo (24) beat Yibing Wu: 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
• Alexei Popyrin (Q) beat Felix Auger-Aliassime (10): 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
• Cameron Norrie (13) beat Alexandre Muller (Q): 6-2, 6-3