Rome, May 9, 2026, 22:14 (CEST)
Arthur Fils barely made it through four games in Rome. The Frenchman retired from his Italian Open debut on Saturday, down 4-0 to Andrea Pellegrino in the second round, snuffing out talk of a potential clash with Jannik Sinner and raising fresh questions about his fitness.
It’s all about the timing. Fils arrived at the last ATP Masters 1000 before Roland-Garros riding momentum: a Barcelona trophy, then making the semis in Madrid. That’s after spending eight months sidelined by injury. According to ATP’s Finals site, Madrid pushed him up to fourth in the season race.
He was wrestling with a straightforward tennis problem. Fils, after losing 6-2, 6-4 to Sinner in Madrid, told Eurosport the first set went by “very, very fast” and admitted he needed to “improve the pace.” Eurosport analyst Arnaud Clément noted Fils still had distance to cover compared to Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz but pointed out Fils showed “the strongest progression.” Eurosport
There was no real challenge for him in Rome. According to Tennis Majors, Fils exited Court Pietrangeli just 22 minutes in, handing Pellegrino the win before even a set wrapped up.
The draw sheet has Pellegrino up 4-0 against the 15th seed in the round of 64, and now the bracket shows him set to face Frances Tiafoe—not Fils—in the third round.
Pellegrino, coming through qualifying, was on an unusual streak for a world No. 155. According to Stars Actu, he picked up a handful of wins in Rome that week and notched his first-ever Masters 1000 main-draw victory just one round earlier.
The standard Fils keeps chasing, Sinner, just wouldn’t slow down. ATP reported the world No. 1 dispatched Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4, advancing to the third round and pushing his Masters 1000 win streak out to 29. The run keeps Sinner’s pursuit of the elusive Career Golden Masters intact—he still needs titles at each of the nine Masters events.
For Fils, it’s not just about an early exit—his physical condition is the bigger question. Stars Actu noted there’s still no official word on the injury specifics, raising concerns for his Paris run if this issue lingers after Rome.
The timing stings. Fils spent the week insisting he’d get up on the baseline, play fast, go big against the top guys—match reps, he called it. Four games is what he takes from it.
ATP’s live rankings show Fils falling to Pellegrino in the round of 64, which shuts out Rome as a scoring opportunity ahead of Paris. Unless there’s word on his medical status, he’s left with a more crowded schedule than he’d hoped for.
