Popyrin's rapid Rome exit leaves de Minaur flying the flag solo once again

[ad_1] With the Italian Open solely now starting to get to its enterprise finish in Rome, the Australian singles curiosity has as soon as once more been left resting solely on the shoulders of Alex de Minaur.

De Minaur was left to fly the flag alone after the tame exit of Alexei Popyrin towards former winner Daniil Medvedev on the SuperTennis Enviornment on Sunday, which continues the Canadian Open winner's troublesome 2025 marketing campaign.

Medvedev marched to a cushty 6-4, 6-1 victory in an 1 and 26 minutes, with Popyrin evidently annoyed by his personal failings as he clocked up 28 unforced errors to take his season's file to 6-10, a disappointing follow-up to his breakthrough 2024 marketing campaign.

With the French Open only a fortnight away, the Australian contingent's current struggles on clay have been hanging.

The 11 who began within the males's and girls's singles attracts in Rome have all departed earlier than the second week, aside from de Minaur.

He battled previous Luca Nardi and will likely be a heat favorite to make the final 16 when he faces Bolivian fortunate loser Hugo Dellien, with the South American gifted his second probability after being defeated in qualifying by Felix Auger-Aliassime's harm.

Elsewhere within the males's draw, the large weapons started to fireplace with title holder Alexander Zverev strolling into the final 16 with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Lithuanian qualifier Vilius Gaubas.

Third seed Carlos Alcaraz then continued his spectacular return from harm with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 victory over Serbian Laslo Djere on the principle Campo Centrale enviornment.

ABC Sport Each day podcast ABC Sport Each day is your every day sports activities dialog. We dive into the most important story of the day and get you up to the mark with every part else that is making headlines.

Earlier, Stefanos Tsitsipas had ended up in a heated and prolonged dialogue along with his conqueror Arthur Fils after his 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 defeat, with the umpire having to come back down off his chair and hold a detailed eye on the pair as supporters within the SuperTennis Enviornment jeered and whistled.

The animated head-to-head centred on a second when Tsitsipas tagged Fils with a booming backhand throughout the second set, with the 20-year-old Frenchman apparently utilizing it as his gas for victory.

However there gave the impression to be no unhealthy blood between the pair as they left the world following the dialogue.

British star Jack Draper recorded his one centesimal tour win however admitted his frustration had boiled over as he smashed a racquet en path to beating Czech qualifier Vit Kopria 6-4, 6-3.