Thiem, Zverev, Rublev advance; Medvedev exits

Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem rallied from a set down to battle past Hungary's Marton Fucsovics into the third round of the ATP Italian Open on Wednesday.

US Open champion Thiem, a semifinalist in Madrid last week, won 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 in 2hr 33min against 44th-ranked Fucsovics in the clay-court tournament which acts as a warm-up for the French Open.

Thiem, twice a runner-up at Roland Garros, will next play Italian Lorenzo Sonego who beat wildcard Gianluca Mager 6-4, 6-4, in a match in front of spectators, with 25 per cent capacity allowed at the Foro Italico after the early rounds were played behind closed doors.

"It was tough the whole match. I was struggling with the timing a little bit," said Thiem.

"I was fighting a lot with myself but kept fighting from the first to the last point. That paid off today, and I'm super happy about it."

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev of Germany eased past Bolivian Hugo Dellien 6-2, 6-2 to set up a third round meeting with Japan's Kei Nishikori.

Russian Andrey Rublev, seventh seed, advanced past Germany Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7 (7/9), 6-1, 6-4.

Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev crashed out with a straight sets defeat to compatriot Aslan Karatsev in round two.

Karatsev, ranked 27th, won 6-2, 6-4 against world number two Medvedev who also exited early in Madrid last week after pulling out of Monte Carlo after testing positive for Covid-19.

Karatsev, who won his first ATP title in Dubai in March, next plays American Reilly Opelka, ranked 47th, in the third round.