Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov overcame a slow start and sweaty hands to beat world No. 45 Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Internazionali d’Italia on Monday.
World No. 14 Dimitrov, who at 22 is the youngest player in the top 20, did not take well to the red-and-white towels at the Foro Italico.
“They’re new and they don’t absorb any sweat,” Dimitrov said. “Three or four times I was about to lose my racket. I asked several times [for all-white towels], but they told me: ‘We don’t have it.’”
Photo: EPA
Dimitrov next faces big-serving Ivo Karlovic, who beat Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
In an upset, 13th seed Fabio Fognini, the top Italian hope, was handily beaten by world No. 56 Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.
Also on Monday, 11th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga saved two set points in the second set before eliminating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
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In the women’s singles, Sam Stosur beat Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 6-3; 11th seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Italian wild-card entry Karin Knapp 6-1, 6-1; 12th seed Flavia Pennetta got past Yvonne Meusburger of Austria, 6-2, 6-3; and 16th seed Sloane Stephens of the US rallied past Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Also on Monday, 1999 champion Venus Williams cruised past Annika Beck of Germany 6-3, 6-1, while local favorite Francesca Schiavone eliminated 17th seed Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 6-2.
The top eight seeds have first-round byes.
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World No. 2 Novak Djokovic is back after withdrawing from last week’s Madrid Open with a right-wrist injury and Roger Federer was out on the practice courts after also taking last week off to welcome the birth of his second set of twins.
However, world No. 1 and defending champion Serena Williams would not commit to playing as she waits to see how her injured left thigh feels.
“I’m taking it a day at a time. We’ll see as the week goes on. I have the rest of the day off and I’ll see how I feel tomorrow,” Serena Williams said. “I hit some balls today a little bit, so I’m going to see later tonight how it feels.”
Serena Williams withdrew before her quarter-final at the Mutua Madrid Open, where she had her thigh heavily bandaged and said the injury occurred during a first-round victory over Belinda Bencic.
One of the only top players not in Rome was Kei Nishikori of Japan, who retired midway through Sunday’s Madrid Open final against Rafael Nadal citing a lower-back and hip injuries.
Rome is the last key clay-court warmup before the French Open starts in two weeks.
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