Nine-time Rome Masters 1000 champion Rafael Nadal broke serve five times to beat Jannik Sinner 7-5 6-4 at the Foro Italico in the eagerly awaited last match of the third evening of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia at the Foro Italico in Rome. 

Sinner took an early lead in each set, but Nadal fought back both times to take the win in 2 hours and 10 minutes. 

Sinner earned a break in the first game with a forehand down the line winner. Nadal pulled the break back in the second game. Sinner got another break in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead with a volley winner, but Nadal broke straight back to draw level to 3-3 after a forehand error from Sinner. 

Sinner saved three straight set points, as he was serving at 4-5 and won the game with a service winner. Nadal converted his seventh set point at 6-5 to close out the first set with his forehand. 

Sinner went up a break in the third game to open up a 4-2 lead, but Nadal won four consecutive games. 

The Spaniard held at 15 in the seventh game and won four consecutive points on return in the eighth game to break back for 4-4. 

Nadal converted his fourth match point with a forehand down the line winner to seal the second set 6-4. 

Nadal will face a third round match against Denis Shapovalov, who beat Stefano Travaglia 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 after 1 hour and 35 minutes. Nadal leads 2-1 in his three head-to-head matches against Shapovalov and won their only previous clash on clay in Rome in 2018.  

The Spaniard beat a Next Gen star for the second consecutive week after claiming a straight-set win over Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid. 

“I was playing great in Madrid. There were a couple of bad games against Alexander Zverev in the quarter finals. Everything went wrong after that, despite the fact I looked good on the practice court. We have to adapt to different conditions, as they are entirely diffferent from Madrid. Jannik is one of the best players I could drawn. He is very young, and he improves his game every day. His ranking position is only getting better, and he plays with a lot of confidence. He played great in Miami to reach the final”, said Nadal. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas edged past Marin Cilic 7-5 6-2 to advance to third round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. 

Tsitsipas has improved his win-loss record to 28-7 this season, equalling Andrey Rublev for most match wins after Rublev beat Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7 (7-9) 6-1 6-4 earlier today. 

Tsitsipas had to save two break points in the ninth game to hold serve after four deuces. The 2021 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters winner earned his crucial break in the 12th game to win a hard-fought first set 7-5. 

Tsitsipas was in control of the match and cruised to a 6-2 win in the second set with two breaks in the second and eighth games. 

“Sometimes I need to adjust my game and Marin is someone I respect a lot. I knew he was going to come out here and play his best tennis. He made move a lot. It was quite tricky to adjust to that at the beginning, but towards the very end of the first set I stayed calm and stayed calm and resilient. I had to play deep on the returns and find solutions from the baseline rallies. That worked well for me from 6-5”, said Tsitsipas. 

Tsitsipas set up a blockbuster third round match against last week’s Madrid Mutua Open finalist Matteo Berrettini, who beat John Millman 6-4 6-2 in front of fans, who will return on Thursday. Tsitsipas enjoyed the atmosphere on the Pietrangeli Stadium. 

“The Pietrangeli Stadium is very beautiful. It’s one of the best courts on tour. I feel like the Pietrangeli here is great. We are surrounded by trees in the city and it’s very quiet which is very important for tennis. Honestly, I can’t wait for the fans to come and fill in the stadium”, said Tsitsipas. 

Berrettini missed three consecutive break points in the third game of the opening set and earned his first break in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead. The Rome-native star served out the first set at 15. Berrettini earned two consecutive breaks to race out to 4-0 lead. Millman saved a break point to hold serve in the fifth game, but Berrettini never looked back in his next two service games to claim the second set 6-2. 

Berrettini has improved with his each appearance in the Rome tournament, reaching the second round in 2018, the third round in 2019 and the quarter final in 2020. 

Tsitsipas beat Berrettini in their only head-to-head match at the 2019 Australian Open. 

A leading consumer watchdog in Italy has hit out at their biggest tennis tournament over what they say is unfair differences in pay between male and female players.

Codacons has issued a press release confirming they have filed an official complaint to the Department for Equal Opportunities (Presidency of the Council of Ministers). The political Authority directly in charge of gender equality and equal opportunities policies in Italy which are made up by a series of politicians from various parties. The move has been triggered by a report in national newspaper La Repubblica which notes that the prize money pool in the men’s draw is significantly more than the women’s.

“The Internazionali d’Italia would be the only tennis tournament among the Masters 1000 of 2021 with an inequality in pay based exclusively on the sex of the players,’ Carlo Rienzi, president of Codacons, said in a statement.
“Based on what La Repubblica reported today to the winner of the prestigious event would be entitled to a higher remuneration of 37% compared to the winner of the women’s draw.’
“Analyzing the prizes up for grabs for the other rounds (eighths, quarters, semifinals and final) it turns out that the remuneration reserved for the players is significantly lower than those paid to male athletes.”

This year’s Italian Open is categorised as a Masters 1000 for the men and as a WTA 1000 for the women. In each round play the prize money available is significantly higher for male than female players. For example the differences in the first round are €12,000 against €8670. This year’s men’s champion will take home more than €65,000 more than their female counterpart.

“An unacceptable gender pay gap in 2021, which causes blatant discrimination to the detriment of women, and which today leads Codacons to denounce the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to the Equal Opportunities Commission for discrimination gender,” Rienzi concluded.

Whilst the Italian Open is a mixed tournament, both of the Tour’s have their own governing body with their own guidelines regarding prize money. Explaining why this difference has occurred. It is for this reason why there is also a difference in points on offer to players.

There has been no comment from the Italian Open, WTA or the ATP in regard to Codacons’ complaint.

2021 Italian Open: Men Vs Women

Prize Money

Points

Note: info via atptour.com and wtatennis.com