Djokovic makes last 16 in Rome, goes the distance against Dimitrov

Serb Novak Djokovic, the top seed and defending champion, moved into the last 16 of the Rome Masters – but had to work hard, winning against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 26 seed, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at the Foro Italico on Sunday.

Djokovic, still the world No 1 until the end of the tournament, will face either Hungarian Marton Fucsovics or No 13 seed Cameron Norrie next.

The 35-year-old Serb beat Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry (7-6 (5), 6-2) ahead of his victory.

Djokovic now has an 11-1 head-to-head record against the Bulgarian that extends back to 2012 – although Dimitrov’s only win did come on clay, in Madrid ten years ago.

And Djokovic is still on course to reach the quarter-finals, as he has done in all of his previous 16 appearances in Rome.

In the previous round of the Italian Open, Dimitrov, ranked No 33, defeated Swiss Stan Wawrinka (6-4, 7-6 (3)).

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Rome Masters, other third-round results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Fabian Marozsan vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Borna Coric vs. Roberto Carballes Baena
• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Marco Cecchinato vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Andrey Rublev vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Alexander Shevchenko vs. Jannik Sinner
• Casper Ruud vs. Alexander Bublik: sunday
• Marton Fucsovics vs. Cameron Norrie
• Laslo Djere beat Cristian Garin: 6-3, 2-1 ret.
• Holger Rune (7) beat Fabio Fognini (WC): 6-4, 6-2
• Francisco Cerundolo (24) beat Gregoire Barrere: 6-7, 6-2, 6-2
• Alexei Popyrin (Q) beat Roman Safiullin (Q): 7-5, 7-5