ATP Next Gen Finals winner Jannik Sinner has claimed the second top 10 scalp of his career, surviving a mid-match comeback against third seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas to win in the only three-set match of the day at the Rome Masters.

The Italian young gun dominated his highly fancied opponent early to race to a 6-1 5-2 lead against an out-of-sorts Tsitsipas. As great players often do however, Tsitsipas worked his way back into the match to win four straight games, and then in the tiebreaker survived two match points. The Greek star won three consecutive points at 8-9 to take out the second set tiebreaker 11-9, but as if the second set was a mirage, Sinner trounced Tsitsipas in the third set to win 6-1 6-7 6-2 in two hours and 13 minutes.

“He is obviously a very experienced player,” Sinner said of Tsitsipas. “I played against him last year here in Rome. “I just wanted to play my game and move better. “In the beginning, I was feeling great and I knew it was his first match on clay. “When I served for the match [at 5-3 in the second set], I hit one double fault and the tie-break could have gone either way. “I tried to start strongly in the third set.”

Now Sinner takes on another top 25 player in 15th seed, Grigor Dimitrov after the Bulgarian destroyed Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-1 6-0. The 29-year-old world number 22 took no mercy against his top 50 opponent, taking just 55 minutes to move into the third round, only dropping one of his first serve points, and winning 68 per cent of his return points. In total, Dimitrov won 60 of a possible 86 points in one of the most dominant performances this year.

In other results, world number one Novak Djokovic took care of Italian wildcard Salvatore Caruso in 84 minutes, winning 6-3 6-2 without breaking too much of a sweat in his first match since being ejected from the US Open.

“It was a very good test for me,” Djokovic said post-match. “I’m very pleased with the way I handled myself in important moments. “I was in control of the match. “Served well when I needed to come up with a big serve and moved well. “I constructed the points as the clay courts demand, because it’s obviously completely different surface in terms of building the point tactically. “Everything went well. “I’m very pleased.”

The Serbian now faces compatriot and in-form talent Filip Krajinovic – who defeated Italian qualifier Marco Cecchinato 6-4 6-1 – in the Round of 16. Along with Nick Kyrgios, Krajinovic is the only other player to have an unbeaten record against the Serbian, though that is with a catch.

“[Krajinovic] is in good form,” Djokovic said. “I haven’t played against him since the first time we played in Belgrade… I retired [from] that match after a set. “So I look forward to that. I’m very glad that Filip is doing well with the new coach, Janko Tipsarevic. “Filip is someone that I [have been] very close to for many years. “I was trying to kind of mentor him in the past seven, eight years. “I’m just very, very pleased that he’s doing well.”

If anyone had forgotten just how good Rafael Nadal was after missing 200 days, then the world number two was quick to remind them. The King of Clay made US Open semi-finalist and top 30 player Pablo Carreno Busta look silly on his way to a trouncing 73-minute, 6-1 6-1 victory. Carreno Busta earned a bye after reaching the final four of the US Open, but did not last long, with Nadal winning a whopping 31 of 39 service points, as well as 10 of 15 off Carreno Busta’s second serve. Even Nadal was impressed with his performance.

“It’s good to be back on the Tour,” Nadal said post-match. “I miss the crowds. “I played a good match, maybe he was a little bit tired after all his matches in New York. “It was a perfect start for me. “It was solid, [and I hit] good shots on the forehand and backhand. “I didn’t expect to play that well.”

In other results, fourth seed Matteo Berrettini defeated Argentinian qualifier Federico Coria 7-5 6-1, whilst compatriot Stefano Travaglia upset Croatian Borna Coric 7-6 7-5. Meanwhile in a huge second round clash, Marin Cilic took down David Goffin 6-2 6-2.

Picture: ATP Tour