Daniil Medvedev captured his first-ever Italian Open title after defeating Holger Rune

World number three tennis player Daniil Medvedev of Russia won the men's singles title at the Italian Open tennis title for the first time, defeating Holger Rune of Denmark 7-5, 7-5 in the final on Sunday.

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This is Medvedev's fifth title this year and he has reached second place in the world rankings as well. Medvedev, who beat big-hitting Rune, as well as two-time major runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas and Olympic champ Alexander Zverev on his way to a fifth title of 2023 (Italian Open) and 20th of his career. It's the sixth ATP Masters 1000 title for Medvedev, the 2021 US Open winner. With the win, he leapfrogs Novak Djokovic for the No. 2 spot in the world rankings. Which means he and Carlos Alcaraz, will reclaim the world No. 1 on Monday (22 May), will likely anchor the two halves of the draw in Paris. 

The match was delayed by one hour and 40 minutes due to rain. After the start of the Italian Open final, the 27-year-old came out and produced a consistent, clean-hitting display. He sat deep behind the baseline and absorbed pressure on the red clay in Rome. And he twice rallied from a breakdown in the second set against the seventh seed Rune. Rune was aiming to win his second Masters 1000 title, but failed to do that.

"I always want to believe in myself and I always want to win the biggest tournaments in the world. But at the same time, I didn't think I could win a Masters 1000 on clay in my career because usually, I hated it, I hated playing on it. I didn't feel good on it and nothing was working." said Medvedev, who dropped just one set en route to the title.

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At the same time, Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina won the women's singles Italian Open final over Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina. Kalinina could not play the whole match due to injury. Rybakina was leading 6–4, one–nil when the match was called out.

Meanwhile, Hugo Nys of Monaco and Jan Zieliński of Poland won the men's doubles title. In the final, the pair defeated the Dutch pair of Robin Haase and Botic van de Zandschulp 7-5, 6-1. While in women's doubles, the Australian pair of Storm Sanders and Elise Mertens of Belgium defeated the American pair of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-4.