This content was published 9 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.
Italian Matteo Donati delighted his home supporters by kicking off the ATP first round matches with a bang, getting the better of Colombian Santiago Giraldo.
The world number 275 fought back after losing the first set to win 26 61 64 against the world number 49.
But while that was one promising result for the Rome crowd to enjoy, their other two main draw partipants were both defeated on Centre Court.
Nicolas Almagro of Spain beat Luca Vanni 64 63 while Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer beat Federico Gaio 63 64.
The only seed who played on Sunday Kevin Anderson avoided a scare to overcome Florian Mayer 76(3) 46 76(4) while Jeremy Chardy set up a second round meeting with Britain’s Andy Murray as he beat Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic in straight sets.
Italians enjoyed a mixed day in qualifying with victories for Andrea Arnaboldi and Thomas Fabbiano sending them through to the main draw. But there were defeats for Gioia Barbieri and Stefano Napolitano, who had beaten Jurgen Melzer in the first qualifying round.
The men’s first round action will be completed on Monday.
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