Rome, May 13 (IANS): Rain interrupted Saturday's second-round matches here at the Italian Open tennis tournament and play was provisionally suspended until further notice at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000.

After the start of the day's play was initially postponed by 30 minutes until 11:30 am local time (CEST), Monte-Carlo champion Andrey Rublev and Alex Molcan played just one game in the opening match of the day on Court Pietrangeli before the rain returned and play was suspended again.

A host of big names are scheduled to start their campaign at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000, including second seed Carlos Alcaraz.

By simply taking the court and making his Rome debut on Saturday against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, the 20-year-old will guarantee himself a return to No. 1 in the next edition of the ATP Rankings.

Third seed Daniil Medvedev later meets Emil Ruusuvuori on Court Pietrangeli, where 2017 champion Alexander Zverev also clashes with David Goffin.

On GrandStand Arena, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas meets Rome debutant Nuno Borges.