Rafael Nadal show up and running, but Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov tumble out

Shahida Jacobs

Rafael Nadal dropped only one game en route to victory over Damir Dzumhur at the Italian Open, but his Madrid conqueror Dominic Thiem as well as Grigor Dimitrov lost.

Seven-time Rome winner Nadal crushed Bosnian Dzumhur 6-1, 6-0 in an hour to set up a third-round clash against either Robin Haase or Denis Shapovalov.

Thiem caused a big upset at the Madrid Open last week as he beat Nadal in straight sets in the quarter-final, but there will be no repeat of that as the Austrian suffered a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 defeat at the hands of local hero Fabio Fognini.

Dimitrov, meanwhile, just cannot put a couple of good runs together as he followed his early exit in Madrid with another second-round defeat, this time going down 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 6-4 to Kei Nishikori.

However, Novak Djokovic continued his revival as he beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2 to set up a clash against Albert Ramos-Vinolas after the Spaniard stunned eighth seed John Isner 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5).

Isner’s fellow American Steve Johnson is also out as he was beaten 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by Pablo Carreno Busta from Spain.

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