World No 1 Jannik Sinner made a solid return from his three-month doping ban in beating 99th-ranked Mariano Navone 6-3 6-4 before an adoring home crowd at the Italian Open on Saturday.
It was Sinner's first match in more than 100 days, since he won his third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.
There were not too many signs of rust and it did not take long for Sinner to start crushing his groundstrokes on or near the lines. When the Italian broke for 3-1 in the first set, the crowd inside Campo Centrale sang: "Ole, ole, ole, Sin-ner, Sin-ner."
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Many fans in the sold-out crowd of 10,500 were dressed in orange, Sinner's theme colour. There were plenty of signs that read "bentornato Jannik" ("welcome back Jannik"). The victory extended Sinner's winning streak to 22 matches, dating to last October.
In February, Sinner agreed to the three-month ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency that raised some questions, since it allowed him not to miss any Grand Slams and come back at his home tournament.
The settlement was made after WADA appealed a decision last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency to fully exonerate Sinner for what it deemed to be an accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid in March 2024. Many fellow pros feel Sinner was treated too lightly.
Sinner's only real lapse on Saturday came late in the second set when he failed to consolidate a break and dropped his serve. But he broke again in the next game and then served out.
The last Italian man to win the Rome title was Adriano Panatta in 1976.
Sinner will next face Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong, who beat 25th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-0, 6-2.
Bartoli: I am absolutely convinced Sinner did nothing wrong
Sky Sports pundit and former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli:
"Everyone had something to say about the Sinner case, there were so many comments, and I was so impressed with the way he handled everything - he just kept on winning.
"I am absolutely convinced he has done nothing wrong. You cannot tell me one billionth of a gram is a performance enhancer.
"I think from the doping agency point of view, the way they put it under the carpet and then the news blew up created a lot of doubt. Moving forward, hopefully everyone will be more transparent.
"When you look at the reception from his peers, he is just so loved and I think he is back where he belongs, which is on a tennis court.
"Everyone is so eager to see him play. He has been a miss for tennis. On the practice court it is 10 rows deep of people coming to watch him. I just think he just wants to compete and fight to win."
Fearnley exit leaves Draper as sole Brit in men's singles
Britain's Jacob Fearnley lost in the second round to Italy's former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, defeated 6-4 7-6 (7-0) in Saturday's first match on Centrale.
Fearnley, who beat another Italian, Fabio Fognini, in round one, saved five of the seven break points Berrettini engineered as he battled against the world No 27, a six-time tournament winner on clay.
But Berrettini went on to sweep the second-set tie-break 7-0 to set up a meeting with last week's Madrid Open winner Casper Ruud, who defeated Alexander Bublik 6-4 4-6 6-3.
British No 1 Jack Draper - the player Ruud beat in the Madrid final - takes on Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva on Sunday after seeing off Italy's Luciano Darderi in the second round on Friday.
Draper's run in Madrid saw him leapfrog 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the rankings and become world No 5, and he now has world No 4 Taylor Fritz in his sights.
Fritz's 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) loss to fellow American Marcos Giron on Saturday means Draper could overtake him with a deep run in Rome.
Elsewhere, 16th seed Andrey Rublev and 15th seed Frances Tiafoe were eliminated by Fabian Marozsan and Sebastian Ofner respectively, both after matches that went to three sets.
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