It was a tough first day for favoured players in Rome. 13th seed Jack Sock struggled in his first round match against Diego Schwartzmann. The American eventually won 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.
Scok started the day well, winning the first set with a pair of breaks. Schwartzmann then came roaring back, dropping just one game in the second set to level the scores.
The Argentinian then broke again to lead in the third, with Sock looking increasingly likely to suffer his second consecutive first round exit. He had lost to Nicolas Mahut in Madrid last week.
Alexander Zverev also struggled against qualifier and former Top Ten player Kevin Anderson, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Zverev broke and took the first set. Anderson came back and though he was broken as he served for the set, Anderson broke straight back to lead.
The South African had his chances to break early in the third. He failed to take two break points though, and it was Zverev who capitalised,
Three breaks then followed as Sock got back on serve, Schwartzmann re-took the lead, then Sock levelled again. Tense holds of serve then followed for both players as they approached what seemed like a tiebreak.
Sock was having none of it though, and the American broke to deuce in the penultimate game. He then held to move to a second round meeting with Jiri Vesely.
Pablo Cuevas had a great run in Madrid last week. The Uruguayan made the semi-finals before a defeat to Dominic Thiem. He edged French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 7-6. His reward is a rematch with Thiem in the third round.
In another early first round encounter Benoit Paire emerged the victor in all French affair. He shrugged off an early break by Mahut to win 6-3, 6-4.
