Italian Open: Novak Djokovic vanquishes unseeded Etcheverry in Rome opener

Novak Djokovic fought his way into the third round of the Italian Open on Friday beating Tomas Etcheverry 75 76 62 in a surprisingly tight encounterA sixtime winner in Rome the World No 1 was made to work by the 61stranked Argentine prevailing in one hour 51 minutes to set up a third round clash with Grigor Dimitrov who beat Stan WawrinkaDjokovic a 22time Grand Slam title winner has not been knocked out of an ATP Tour event at the first attempt since the Monte Carlo Masters last year Still nursing an injury to his right elbow he had to battle his way past Etcheverry winning the first set via a tiebreak before finally ensuring passage into the next roundldquoIrsquove said before that this surface requires more time for me than maybe for other players to get myself to a good level move well and hit the ball well Rome has always been a tournament that I need for Roland Garrosrdquo said Djokovic who was plagued by 21 unforced errors in the openerAlso Read Novak Djokovic can play US Open as vaccine mandate set to endDjoko pops a pillDjokovic appeared unwell at 55 in the first set and took a tablet in the changeover ldquoYou act like yoursquore 100 per centrdquo Djokovic said ldquoMost of the times I guess yoursquore not but you want to show your opponent that yoursquore out there trying to fight for every ball I guess thatrsquos what happened itrsquos kind of catandmouse always on clayrdquoDjokovic 35 has made 12 finals in Rome and said Thursday that he was feeling good ahead of the tournament despite missing last weekrsquos Madrid MastersWearing an elbow brace he made a slow start dropping his serve in the first game and struggling to deal with the Argentinersquos powerful shots The first set hinged on a scrappy game six in which Djokovic broke to level the scores following a battle at deuceWorld No 7 Holger Rune marked his Rome debut with a 63 63 win against Arthur Fils of France ldquoHe made it tough Hersquos young younger than me It feels kind of crazy because I think this is the second time in my life Irsquom playing someone thatrsquos youngerrdquo said Rune 20Iga SwiatekPerfect start for SwiatekWorld No1 Iga Swiatek started her bid to win a third straight Italian Open WTA title by demolishing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 60 60Losing finalist in Madrid last weekend Swiatek looked in great form in the tournament she won last year before going on to blitz the French Open even though she is shaking off a rib injury suffered at Indian WellsldquoI still may feel some discomfort but it is really really low Even when I withdrew from Miami the pain was low It was just the risk of getting it worse that stopped merdquo Swiatek told reporters Last yearrsquos losing finalist fourth seed Ons Jabeur fell 61 64 to Paula Badosa Meanwhile sixthseeded Andrey Rublev beat Alex Molcan 63 64 in the only match completed so far on a rainy SaturdayAlcaraz regains No 1 spotCarlos Alcaraz marked his return to the World No 1 ranking by comfortably seeing off fellow Spaniard Albert RamosVinolas 64 61 in his first ever match at the Italian Open Inform Alcaraz ensured top spot just by taking to the court to play his second round match in Rome as he seeks a third straight tournament winThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever