Jasmine Paolini’s defense of her Rome Masters title came to an early end on Saturday, as the home favorite suffered a third-round defeat at the hands of Elise Mertens. Meanwhile, Jannik Sinner looks to extend his historic winning streak in Masters 1000 tournaments.
The crowd favorite Paolini lost 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 to Mertens in a match riddled with errors, disappointing fans on center court. At 30 years old, she is poised to drop out of the top 10 in the women’s rankings after failing to reach the fourth round in four consecutive tournaments.
Paolini claimed both the singles and women’s doubles titles in Rome last season, but this year she has struggled to replicate that form, suffering a string of early exits. Her fortunes turned when she failed to convert three match points while leading 6-5 in the second set. She then lost the first two points of the tiebreak and was unable to recover.
Mertens, who lost last year’s women’s doubles final to Paolini and Sara Errani, could face eighth seed Mirra Andreeva in the next round. Coco Gauff, who lost to Paolini in last year’s singles final, needed over two hours to overcome Argentina’s Solana Sierra 5-7, 6-0, 6-4. The world No. 4 and reigning Roland Garros champion will next face either qualifier Taylor Townsend or Iva Jovic.
Gauff has struggled on clay this season, exiting in the round of 16 in Madrid after a modest performance in the Stuttgart quarterfinals. The 22-year-old is in the same half of the draw as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who faces Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
Sinner will take to center court later on Saturday as the clear favorite to extend his streak of five consecutive Masters 1000 titles. Austria’s Sebastian Ofner stands in the way of Sinner’s 24th straight victory, though few expect anything other than a quick two-set win.
No Italian tennis player has won at the Foro Italico since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago. With Carlos Alcaraz out of the tournament, Sinner is expected to surpass last season’s performance, when he lost the final to his great rival. Former champion Daniil Medvedev will begin his campaign in the third round after his match, originally scheduled as the first on center court, was postponed due to the withdrawal of Tomas Machac, who left the tournament due to an undisclosed illness.