Novak Djokovic would take to the magnificent Court Centrale at the Foro Italico with, not for the first time, a number of milestones within his reach.
Five of his record 37 Masters titles have come on the clay of Rome, where he has won more matches than at any of those nine elite events.
So long and successful has been his career in Rome that he was about to notch up his 60th win at the event if he won his opening match against Aslan Karatsev, who he was meeting for the third time.
If Djokovic reached the semi-finals—and the highest seed in his way is No8 Felix Auger-Aliassime—he would confirm his 370th week at No1, extending the record he already held to 60 weeks over the second man, Roger Federer.
If Djokovic reached the final, and did not get any walkovers on the way, he would take his life-time tally of match-wins to 1,000.
And if he made it all the way to victory, he would extend his record of Masters titles to 38, two clear of Rafael Nadal.
And that man would perhaps to be the biggest impediment to some of those Djokovic milestones in Rome. For the Spaniard had won the Rome Masters 10 times, indeed was the defending champion, and had won 68 matches from 75 played through 17 years.
The Spaniard had also notched up six wins in the nine matches he had played against Djokovic in Rome, including last year’s final. It was a close affair, a three-setter that extended almost to three hours. And come the semis of the French Open a couple of weeks later, the tables turned, and Djokovic beat Nadal in four sets after well over four hours.
They had not met since. Nadal played just two matches after the French Open, in Washington in August, not returning until the start of 2022 following a foot injury. And this season, Djokovic was unable to play in Australia or North American because of his Covid vaccination status.
Add into the equation that Nadal took a month out after his 20-match-win start to the year with a rib injury, and their paths crossed only in Madrid last week—and there, a scheduled semi-final meeting was halted by eventual champion, Carlos Alcaraz.
The brilliant teenager, who won his fourth title of the season in Madrid to reach 28-3 for the year, opted out of Rome to look after an ankle strain picked up during his extraordinary run past both Nadal and Djokovic, and that meant this time, the semi-final showdown looked on.
First things first, though. Djokovic faced the Russian who surged up the ranks at the start of last year, facing the Serb in the Australian Open semis after coming through qualifying with a ranking of 114. Karatsev broke inside the top 40 with the Dubai title, and won his next title in Moscow to break the top 20.
Karatsev again started the year with a bang, winning in Sydney to reach No15, but since then, progress had stalled, with seven first-round exits on his score-sheet. And now with some good clay matches under his feet, Djokovic was hot favourite to come through the world No35 on one of his favourite and most successful courts.
Things were very one-sided in the first stage, bringing a quick break by Djokovic for 2-0 as Karatsev sprayed errors. But in the third game, the Russian seemed gather himself, find some angled backhands and neat net finishes, and got the break back.
The Russian had certainly upped his level, and saved a break point in the eighth game, but a terrible easy smash created another chance, and Djokovic made no mistake: 5-3. The former champion pulled off a leg-stretching volley winner on his way to the hold and set, 6-3.
Karatsev was soon up against it in the first game of the second set, broken at the third attempt, and again to go 0-3 courtesy of another dreadful smash error. He battled to a long hold, 5-2, but Djokovic served out the win cleanly, his 60th in Rome, 6-2, and the first man this year to confirm his third-round spot.
Five more top-10 seeds also began their campaigns, including Djokovic’s potential quarter-final opponent, Auger-Aliassime, and Nadal’s potential quarter-final opponent, Casper Ruud.
In the bottom half, No6 seed Andrey Rublev would begin his tricky run against Filip Krajinovic, while home favourite Jannik Sinner, seeded 10, opened against Pedro Martinez—with the winner destined to face the veteran Italian Fabio Fognini.
Briton Cam Norrie, who had been lined up for a third-round meet with Alcaraz, saw his segment open up when the teenager withdrew to be replaced by Emil Ruusuvuori—who was beaten, 6-4 6-4, by Cristian Garin. Ultimately, Norrie was scheduled to face No2 seed Alexander Zverev in the quarters, but he opened against Italian wild card, Luca Nardi, just 18 years old and ranked 201.
The teenager, who had two Challenger titles to his name this season, proved a tough nut to crack in the early goings, buoyed up too by huge home support. Norrie had to save break points in the second game, then Nardi fought off a break chance in the third game. By the time the Briton managed a quick hold for 2-2, they had spent almost 25 minutes on court.
From there, Norrie settled down, conjuring his side-to-side variety and leftie serving to break and consolidate to love. The Italian youngster rallied to more break points as Norrie attempted to serve out the set, but could not convert: the Briton led, 6-4.
Norrie struck early in the second set, getting the only break in a long first game, and never looked like being broken back, taking the win, 6-4. He will next face Marin Cilic, so getting to the third round for the first time in Rome remains a challenge.
Other ATP results
Grigor Dimitrov beat Brandon Nakashima, 6-3, 6-4, to set meeting with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Sebastian Baez beat Tallon Griekspoor, 6-3, 6-7(7), 6-2, to face Zverev.
John Isner beat Francisco Cerundolo, 6-4, 6-3, and will be Nadal’s first opponent.
No12 seed Diego Schwartzman beat Miomir Kecmanovic, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3), and will face Marcos Giron.