Adverse weather conditions disrupted Thursday's Italian Open action, but either side of the heavens opening, the sun shone down on the Roman clay as a plethora of enticing first and second-round battles took place.
The men's record holder Rafael Nadal unsurprisingly stole the headlines as he began his Italian Open swansong, but Great Britain suffered mixed fortunes as two of their male players took to the court in round one.
Here, Sports Mole looks at some of the highlights of today's action at the Masters tournament.
Rafael Nadal beats Zizou Bergs in three
Already boasting an unprecedented 10 Italian Open titles throughout his glittering career, Rafael Nadal remains on course for number 11 thanks to a pulsating three-set triumph over Belgium's Zizou Bergs, where he was forced to do it the hard way.
The beloved Spaniard took two hours and 53 minutes to triumph 4-6 6-3 6-4 and avoid just a second loss in 19 first-round matches at the Italian Open, although he admitted afterwards that his performance was not his finest.
Nadal hit 23 winners and 32 unforced errors in his opening battle, but his returning mastery came to the fore as he saved seven of the nine break points that the Belgian brought up, advancing on a shanked backhand from Bergs.
The 10-time champion now faces a stern test of his physical mettle against seventh seed Hubert Hurkacz, and should he come through that showdown, either Tomas Martin Etcheverry or Thiago Seyboth Wild will await in round three.
Jack Draper through but Dan Evans crashes out
© Reuters
With Cameron Norrie receiving a bye into the second round as the 27th seed, Thursday's action saw compatriots Jack Draper and Dan Evans try to join their national number one in the last 64, but only the former succeeded in doing so.
Draper had never competed at the Italian Open before 2024 and squared up to last year's quarter-finalist Borna Coric, but he cruised past the Croatian number one 7-5 6-1 in just 96 minutes, firing eight aces and not facing a single break point.
The 22-year-old's reward will be a second-round showdown with defending champion Daniil Medvedev, but Evans's poor form continued as he fell to a 4-6 6-3 2-6 loss to home favourite Fabio Fognini late at night.
The 33-year-old has now lost each of his last five matches on the ATP Tour and paid the price for wasted opportunities against Fognini, only managing to convert four of the 12 break points he fashioned.
Iga Swiatek bagels Bernarda Pera
Reigning women's champion Elena Rybakina did not take to the court on Thursday, but top seed Iga Swiatek - fresh from winning the Madrid Open title - started as she means to go on against American qualifier Bernarda Pera.
The world number one stormed to a 6-0 6-2 victory with 77 minutes on the clock as she chases a third Rome crown, having prevailed at the WTA 1000 tournament in 2021 and 2022, although she was broken while serving for the match before getting the job done.
Swiatek's third-round opponent will be Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva, while Coco Gauff eased past the world number one's fellow Pole Magdalena Frech, prevailing 6-3 6-3.
Elsewhere, Naomi Osaka came up trumps 6-3 6-2 against Ukrainian 19th seed Marta Kostyuk to set up an intriguing third-round battle with 10th seed Daria Kasatkina, but Ekaterina Alexandrova - seeded 14th - was stunned by qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who ran out a 6-0 6-1 victor.
Ben Knapton
