Rome (AFP)

Stan Wawrinka, dean of the Masters 1000 in Rome with his 35 years, fell from the start in the face of the enthusiasm of the Italian Lorenzo Musetti, 18, on Tuesday in the first round.

Wawrinka, who had not made the trip for the short American season on hard, only entered his match when led 6-0, 2-0.

Much too late to regain control of the match against the young Italian, 249th in the world, from qualifying, in a state of grace on Roman clay.

The Rome tournament, which launches the short preparation on clay towards Roland-Garros (September 27-October 11) in this season upset by the coronavirus pandemic, will get to the heart of the matter on Wednesday with the entry into the running, in the 2nd round, favorites Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep.

Nadal, after six months without an official match, is offered a spicy comeback against his compatriot Pablo Carreno (18th world), recent semi-finalist of the US Open.

This promises to be simpler for "Djoko" against the Italian Salvatore Caruso (87th) and for Simona Halep, seeded N.1, ahead of the Italian Jasmine Paolini (99th world).

Without waiting for the debut of the big favorites, the tournament experienced its first great thrills on Tuesday evening, experienced in prime time in front of the television by the Italian supporters because they could not access the Foro Italico this year.

- "Impossible mission" -

Musetti, after a first set almost offered by Wawrinka, showed in the second round astonishing resources to resist the awakening of the Swiss, seeded N.10, and to slip away to victory without trembling, including in the tie -break that he easily took away.

His coach, Simone Tartarini, had mentioned before the match an "impossible mission" for his young protégé.

“But Lorenzo likes this kind of situation, so he's very motivated,” he said.

The only competition played by Wawrinka since the several-month hiatus linked to the coronavirus pandemic was a Challenger tournament (2nd ATP division) won in Prague, already on clay

Among the other seeds in contention Tuesday in the 1st round (of which the first eight seeds are exempt), Milos Raonic (19th world), recent finalist of the Masters 1000 of Cincinnati, dominated Adrian Mannarino (38th).

The French, whose preparation was disrupted by his quarantine in New York for having been one of the contact cases of Benoît Paire, positive for Covid-19, resisted for a set (lost in the tie-break) before give in.

The first round was also fatal to the recent quarter finalist at the US Open, the Australian Alex de Minaur (27th), eliminated by the German Dominik Koepfer (97th), resulting from the qualifications.

In the ladies, where the world No. 1 is missing, the Australian Ashleigh Barty, as well as Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, the former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber (seeded No. 15) stumbled from the first round: the German was dominated on Tuesday by the Czech Katerina Siniakova (6-3, 6-1).

In the evening, in one of the beautiful posters of the day, the Spanish Garbine Muguruza (seed N.9), victorious at Roland Garros in 2016, did not tremble against the American Sloane Stephens, finalist in France in 2018.

© 2020 AFP