Italian Open 2026 Day Three Summary

Day three at the Foro Italico delivered a couple of surprises as the 2026 Italian Open continued under rainy Roman skies.

The biggest story was Novak Djokovic’s second-round exit; the 24-time Grand Slam champion was beaten by Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic, who fought back from a set down to claim one of the biggest wins of his young career.

The Italian fans had plenty to cheer too, as wild card Matteo Arnaldi produced a gritty, high-quality comeback victory over sixth seed Alex de Minaur in a tense three-setter at Campo Centrale.

Most of the other top seeds navigated their matches safely with solid performances from Alexander Zverev, Casper Ruud, while Griekspoor was the only other seeded player to fall.

Full recap of the day below

Day three Italian Open 2026 round of 64 results

Key Match Recap

Alexander Zverev (2) def. Daniel Altmaier 7-5 6-3

Zverev had to work hard for his victory after a rain delay. Altmaier pushed him aggressively, breaking serve in both sets and making the German feel physically uncomfortable. Zverev showed his class by raising his level in the key moments and finished with 26 winners. He improves to 4-1 in H2H and is off to a solid enough start after his Madrid loss.

Matteo Arnaldi (WC) def. Alex de Minaur (6) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4

Biggest upset of the day. The Italian wild card came through in a high-quality three-set battle to knock out sixth seed De Minaur. This is only Arnaldi’s second tour-level win of 2026 and takes him into the third round in Rome for the first time. A huge boost for the home crowd.

Rafael Jodar (32) def. Nuno Borges 7-6(4) 6-4

The 19-year-old Spaniard continued his breakout season with a very composed victory. After a tight first set decided in a tiebreak, Jodar took control and secured the victory. He is now 13-2 on clay at the tour level this season, and Borges is not easy to put away on clay.

Dino Prizmic (Q) def. Novak Djokovic (3) 2-6 6-2 6-4

Today’s outstanding result was a massive upset. The young Croatian qualifier came back from losing the first set to knock out Novak Djokovic in the second round.

Prizmic raised his level significantly in the final two sets, taking advantage of whatever illness or physical problems Djokovic had.

I thought Novak played a great first set, but then suddenly he looked like he was going to throw up. He basically took the second set but got his game back in the third.

Prizmic had momentum on his side though, and he didn’t let up and kept his shots in front, which paid off as Djoker would have taken advantage if he hadn’t.

After the match, Novak said that’s it for his French Open lead, no Geneva this year, he’s straight to Paris. Not ideal preparation.

Highlights

Italian Open 2026 Day 4 Round of 64 matches