Bernard Tomic has set up a tantalising second round meeting with world No.1 Novak Djokovic at the Rome Masters.
The Australian teenager dropped the first set but rallied past Colombian qualifier Santiago Giraldo 4-6 6-2 6-4 to book a date with Djokovic on Tuesday night.
Tomic bounced back from his first round exit in Madrid to beat Giraldo in the last major clay court event before his French Open assault begins in two weeks time.
In women’s play, fellow Australian Jarmila Gajdosova went down 6-4 7-6 to Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.
In a match-up of former French Open champions, 13th-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-3 in a windy first-round encounter.
“It was tough out there today but it was the same for both of us,” said Ivanovic, who won her only major title at Roland Garros in 2008.
“I just tried to move and to adjust and really tried to look at the ball and move forward. It was difficult at times and the gusts of wind would come out of nowhere, but it was a good match.”
Ivanovic is approaching the top 10 again after a difficult stretch in her career that included four first-round losses at grand slams. She attributes part of her turnaround to her coach, Nigel Sears, after they started working together following Wimbledon last year.
“He is very calm and I am a perfectionist and sometimes I try to do too much at the same time, and so he is very reasonable when he comes onto the court … so this helps me to calm down a lot,” Ivanovic said.
In a night match at the Foro Italico, Francesca Schiavone was defeated in front of her home fans by 39th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova 6-3 6-4.
Makarova dictated play with a series of angled baseline winners, while Schiavone, the 2010 French Open champion, had trouble finding the range for her highly technical game.
Also, 12th-seeded Angelique Kerber rallied past Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova 4-6 7-5 6-2, and Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden cruised past 2010 champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3 6-2.
In men’s action, 16th-ranked Fernando Verdasco eased into the second round when Alexandr Dolgopolov retired with a stomach ache.
Coming off a win over Rafael Nadal in Madrid last week, Verdasco won the first set 6-0. Dolgopolov then called for the trainer and clutched his stomach as he went over to shake Verdasco’s hand and concede.
Twelfth-seeded Nicolas Almagro defeated Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-2 3-6 6-0 and 13th-seeded Gael Monfils beat Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia 6-4 6-1.
Others advancing included David Nalbandian of Argentina, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Italian wild card Fabio Fognini.