Former #NextGenATP champ Medjedovic advances in Rome, Draper & Struff win

Serbian qualifier Hamad Medjedovic earned victory on his Internazionali BNL d’Italia debut on Thursday when he moved past Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round in Rome.

The 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion struggled with illness during the early months of this season but has looked close to his best in recent weeks, having also come through qualifying to advance to the second round in Madrid.

The 20-year-old Medjedovic dictated with his powerful game in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Popyrin, winning 88 per cent (21/24) of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to triumph after 76 minutes. He will next play Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

British lefty Jack Draper also advanced, moving past Croatian Borna Coric 7-5, 6-1. The 22-year-old won 92 per cent (35/38) of his first-serve points and did not face a break point to triumph after one hour and 37 minutes.

"It was good all round. I served great, moved really well. Return was good. I tried to be aggressive when I could," Draper said. "I thought Borna played excellent in the first set. It was tough, we were both going at each other. Then I think my quality was good enough and I won a lot of those tight points to get through."

Draper, who is making his debut in Rome, will play second seed Daniil Medvedev in the second round.

German Jan-Lennard Struff sealed his place in the second round with a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 win against Pedro Cachin.

The 34-year-old, who captured his first tour-level title on clay in Munich earlier this season, fell to Carlos Alcaraz in a third-set tie-break in Madrid last month in the fourth round.

Struff will continue his quest in the Italian capital against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Dominik Koepfer, Jaume Munar and Thiago Seyboth Wild all recorded straight-set wins on Day 2 at the ATP Masters 1000 clay-court event.

Koepfer beat Italian wild card Andrea Vavassori 6-4, 6-3, while Munar downed Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 7-5. Seyboth Wild, who beat Daniil Medvedev at last year’s Roland Garros, defeated French qualifier Gregoire Barrere 6-4, 6-2.

Italian wild cards Matteo Gigante and Stefano Napolitano reached the second round. Gigante, 22, beat countryman Giulio Zeppieri 7-6(2), 6-4 to advance to the second round for the first time, while Napolitano downed American lucky loser J.J. Wolf 6-2, 7-6(3).

Corentin Moutet overcame Roman Safiullin 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-2 to set a second-round meeting with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. Miomir Kecmanovic cruised past American qualifier Brandon Nakashima 6-4, 6-4. The Serbian will meet fifth seed Casper Ruud in the second round.

Italian Matteo Arnaldi beat Harold Mayot 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 and Marcos Giron downed Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Italian veteran Fabio Fognini claimed his fourth match win of the season with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over gritty Brit Daniel Evans. He will next meet 11th-seeded American Taylor Fritz. But countryman Lorenzo Sonego wasn't so lucky, falling to Serbian Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3.