Novak Djokovic kicked off his quest for a sixth Italian Open title and the defence of his world No.1 ranking with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Aslan Karatsev in the second round on Tuesday.
Top seed Djokovic, who received a bye into the second round, is still seeking his first title of the year.
If Djokovic does not reach the semi-finals in Rome, he will surrender the top spot in the rankings to Russian Daniil Medvedev for a second time this year.
The Serb, however, got the job done against Karatsev, who had beaten him in Belgrade last year.
“He’s a very strong guy, just solid from the baseline. You never know with him. If he’s feeling the ball, it can be very dangerous because he stays so close to the line and puts pressure on his opponents,” Djokovic said.
“He was missing a lot of balls today though. He gave me a couple of breaks...
“I’ll take this win, it’s a straight sets win against a quality opponent.”
Djokovic brought the crowd to its feet at one point, sprinting from one end of the court to the other, scrambling and sliding to reach for an outrageous drop shot at the net before opening up the court for a winner.
“Obviously that’s what the crowd is looking for — energy, excitement, they’re looking for fight. They want to see some good tennis,” the 34-year-old said with a smile.
“We had some nice points today. It’s always great to play in the Colosseum of tennis.”
Earlier, 2020 runner-up Diego Schwartzman saved two match points to edge past Miomir Kecmanovic 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3) to move into the second round while David Goffin upset 11th seed Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2).
Raducanu retires
Briton Emma Raducanu was unable to overcome a back injury which forced her to retire from her first round match against Bianca Andreescu. Raducanu, who had also struggled with a back injury during her previous tournament in Madrid, was trailing 2-6, 1-2 when she called it quits.
The battle of the reigning and former US Open champions on clay looked an intriguing prospect but Raducanu struggled from the outset and served poorly. Raducanu was clutching her back when she took a medical timeout after going 5-2 down but returned to the court minutes later where the Canadian held to love to take the opening set.
The 19-year-old Raducanu held serve at the start of the second set but looked uncomfortable yet again and this time she took the decision to retire when she was down 2-1 in the second.
