Italian Open Crisis Center, Day 1

By Rosangel Valenti, TW Contributing Editor

Good morning. Back from Barcelona (report to follow shortly), I have about a day's turnaround at home before heading off to the Eternal City and the Foro Itallico. This time, along with my photo gear, I will be officially credentialled for TW. I'm also spending time with a friend in Rome, but will be heavily focused on the tennis for most of the week. For today, please use this as your thread for discussing the action from Rome (or the WTA event in Berlin). For anyone who hasn't yet seen it, the Rome draw is here. If you don't like the way this turned out for your favourites, perhaps there's some creative way in which it can be blamed on last year's local hero Filippo Volandri who, along with fellow Italian Potito Starace, was this year responsible for pulling the names out of the hat.

The Order of Play for today doesn't include any of the top-ranked men; Richard Gasquet, in his first appearance since his meltdown against Sam Querrey in the R16 in Monaco, is the highest-ranked player to be making an appearance in Stadio Pietrangeli, taking on Luis Horna. Some other claycourt experts (or are they "claycourt specialists"?) are also on offer - Potito Starace, for example, faces Marin Cilic in the second match on the stadium court, while Nicolas Almagro later tackles Flavio Cipolla over on Campo 1. Elsewhere, Juan Monaco and Pablo Cuevas are due to meet. It seems to be a day for first-time career meetings - none of these four matchups has ever taken place before.

Picking the Crisis Center picture on the first day of an event is often a puzzle, as there is no action already "in the can" to select from. So I went with one of Andrew's breakout picks for the year, who is also playing today. I took this picture on a chilly evening in Barcelona - it's Nicolas Almagro under the lights, celebrating his eventual second-round win, in three sets, over Mario Ancic. In the main night match later today, Marat Safin plays one of the Barcelona semifinalists, Stanislas Wawrinka. In their only previous meeting, at last year's US Open, Wawrinka won in straight sets.

As always, enjoy today's tennis.