Briton Fearnley reaches Italian Open second round
Britain's Jacob Fearnley is safely through to the second round of the Italian Open with a straight-set victory over home hero Fabio Fognini.
The 23-year-old defeated the veteran Italian - who announced on Tuesday this would be his last Masters 1000 event in Rome - 6-2 6-3 in the first round.
Fearnley will now face another Italian opponent, Matteo Berrettini, on Saturday.
He said it was a "tough match" against the 37-year-old Fognini and he had to "dig deep" in both sets.
"I knew playing such an experienced player like Fabio that I had to up my game in order to win," Fearnley told Sky Sports.
Thursday's match was briefly interrupted as spectators at Foro Italico were told Robert Prevost had been elected as the new Pope.
To the delight of the home crowd, Fognini started brightly before Fearnley won six games in a row to take the first set.
The second followed the same pattern, with Fognini on the front foot early on, only for his younger opponent to go on a run of games which eventually sealed the match.
Fognini made his debut at the clay-court event in 2006 and reached the quarter-finals of the tournament in 2018.
He had told the Tennis Channel before his opening tie with Fearnley that now was a "good time to say goodbye in this beautiful city".
Carlos Alcaraz is in action on Friday and says he has recovered from the thigh injury he picked up during his Barcelona Open final defeat last month.
The four-time Grand Slam champion, who was forced to miss the Madrid Open, will take on Serbia's Dusan Lajovic in the second round.
"I'm in a good shape. I'm 100 per cent ready to start the tournament," said world number three Alcaraz. "I think my level is in a good spot."
The 22-year-old lifted the French Open trophy last year despite an injury-hit clay-court season. He has made only one previous appearance in Rome - a third-round defeat by Hungarian Fabian Marozsan in 2023.
Meanwhile, Britain's Jack Draper's Italian Open campaign begins on Friday too against home player Luciano Darderi at around 16:30 BST.
The world number five reached the final in Madrid nearly a week ago, but was beaten to his first ATP Tour clay-court title by Norway's Casper Ruud.
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