Novak Djokovic made to battle by Grigor Dimitrov as he reaches last 16 of Italian Open

World No 1 Novak Djokovic was made to battle to get past No 33 ranked Grigor Dimitrov to reach the last 16 of the Italian Open on Sunday.

Top seed Djokovic, a six-time winner in Rome, eventually eased through 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 against the Bulgarian.

The Serbian, who missed the recent Madrid Open with an elbow injury, was no longer in the brace he wore during his second-round victory over Tomas Etcheverry.

And he seemed to have rediscovered his form against Dimitrov when, after losing his serve in the first game, he took the opening set 6-3 and broke to take a 4-2 lead in the second.

But the Bulgarian, a former world No 3, battled back to win four games in a row to clinch the second set 6-4 and take the match into a decider.

Djokovic cruised to a 6-1 win in the final set and will face either Britain's Cameron Norrie or Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the next round as he seeks another win in Italy ahead of the French Open later this month.

Daniil Medvedev broke his Rome duck on his fourth attempt with a clinical second-round win over Emil Ruusuvuori.

"It's a little bit (of a relief)," Medvedev said after his 6-4, 6-2 win. "Whenever I come to a tournament, I know that I can play well, so I'm happy to finally get the win here in Rome."

Last year's runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas also cruised into the third round, taking only five minutes to win the two games needed to complete a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Nuno Borges after the contest was suspended on Saturday due to rain. He will meet home hope Lorenzo Sonego in the third round.

Seventh seed Holger Rune was equally impressive in his 6-4, 6-2 win over local favourite Fabio Fognini and will meet Alexei Popyrin in round four after the Australian overcame Roman Safiullin 7-5, 7-5.

Iga