The ATP Masters 1000 Rome draw was released on Monday evening, with world number one Jannik Sinner leading the field as the top seed. Sinner is placed in the top half and is projected to face fifth seed Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals and fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semifinals.
Novak Djokovic, the third seed making his clay debut this season, is in the bottom half, with a potential semifinal clash against second seed Alexander Zverev. The Serbian will first need to get past eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals. The top eight seeds are aligned as follows: top half – Sinner vs. Shelton, Auger-Aliassime vs. Daniil Medvedev; bottom half – Musetti vs. Djokovic, Alex de Minaur vs. Zverev.
Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen, entered using his protected ranking, has been drawn in the bottom quarter (4/4) and will face German Jan-Lennard Struff in the first round. If he advances, he will meet second seed Zverev in the second round, a tough draw for the Chinese star.
On the women’s side, the WTA 1000 Rome main draw was also released. The top eight seeds are: top half – Sabalenka vs. Anisimova, Gauff vs. Andreeva; bottom half – Pegula vs. Swiatek, Svitolina vs. Rybakina.
Three Chinese women are in the main draw. Wang Xinyu, a seeded player, received a first-round bye and will start in the second round. Zheng Qinwen and Zhang Shuai will play their first-round matches, with Zheng facing Hungary’s Anna Bondár and Zhang taking on American Lee Ji-hee.
According to the schedule released Tuesday morning, Zheng Qinwen will play her opening match on Court Philippe-Chatrier at around 5 p.m. local time, while veteran Zhang Shuai will play the fourth match on Center Court, starting around 9:30 p.m. With Zheng currently ranked 55th and defending 390 points from last year’s semifinal run, she needs a strong performance to avoid dropping out of the top 50 after this tournament.
In qualifying action in Rome, Chinese player Yuan Yue defeated Australian Kimberly Birrell 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the final qualifying round. She will face Switzerland’s Simona Waltert for a spot in the main draw.
