Seeded tenth in this event, top American John Isner will square off against German Philipp Kohlschreiber in his first round encounter of the 2012 The Internazionali BNL d'Italia, an ATP World Tour 1000 Event, being played here in Rome, Italy.

This will be a second-meeting between these two contenders. Last time they met in October 2010, where Isner won in three sets in the second round of Beijing ATP Tournament. The American John Isner has been enjoying a decent form of late and he has a good 20-8 win-loss record this season.

Earlier this season, Isner reached his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in Indian Wells after beating No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals before losing to No. 3 Roger Federer in the final. The American is making his third appearance in Rome and has a 1-2 win-loss record here.

On the other hand, World No. 24 Philipp Kohlschreiber earned his fourth career title in Munich last week. He has a decent 19-9 win-loss record this season so far and has an ordinary 3-3 win-loss record in Rome. He has been losing in the second round of this event for the past three years.