ROME: World number one Ashleigh Barty advanced to the third round of the Italian Open in Rome on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova.
Days after her shock defeat in the Madrid Open final, the Australian overcame an early break of serve to see off Shvedova, a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist making her way back after giving birth to twins.
Playing with her left thigh strapped, Barty dropped her opening service game but rallied to level at 4-4, taking control of the match against Shvedova on the red clay of the Foro Italico.
Barty will next meet 28th-ranked Russian Veronika Kudermetova as she bids for a first Rome quarterfinal on her third appearance.
Kudermetova beat France’s 56th-ranked Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-4.
Former Rome champion Karolina Pliskova, seeded ninth, also advanced past Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-2, 6-3. Czech Pliskova, winner in 2019 and runner-up last year, built on her powerful serve, and converted six of her 13 break point chances.
The former world number one next plays Russian Vera Zvonareva who ousted Czech 11th seed Petra Kvitova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Fifth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine dropped a set before advancing past American Amanda Anisimova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
OSAKA CRASHES OUT
Japan’s Naomi Osaka crashed out after a 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 second round defeat to American Jessica Pegula.
The four-time Grand Slam winner, seeded second in the Italian capital, had received a first-round bye, but was unable to find her way back into the match after losing the first-set tie-break to her 31st-ranked opponent.
Osaka was playing just her third tournament since winning the Australian Open in February and also exited in the second round in Madrid earlier this month.
Osaka, the reigning US Open champion, has seven career hard-court titles, but has never managed to lift a clay-court trophy.
Pegula, 27, who reached the Australian Open quarterfinals, will next play either 33rd-ranked Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova or American 13th seed Jennifer Brady.
THIEM THROUGH
Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem rallied from a set down to battle past Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics into the third round.
US Open champion Thiem, a semifinalist in Madrid last week, won through 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 in 2hr 33min against 44th-ranked Fucsovics in the clay-court tournament which acts as a warm-up for the French Open in which the Austrian has twice finished runner-up. The 27-year-old will next play an Italian, either Lorenzo Sonego or wildcard entry Gianluca Mager, in a match in front of spectators, with 25 percent capacity allowed at the Foro Italico after the early rounds were played behind closed doors.
RAIN BREAK
On Tuesday, world number one Novak Djokovic overcame a “strange” lengthy rain delay to beat American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to reach the third round.
Title holder Djokovic waited three hours to finish off the match despite Fritz’s efforts in the second set.
“It was a really strange match, to play in the rain, it was difficult’’, the Serb said.
“It possibly helped me because the play was slower, and he has a good serve. He played really well.” — AFP
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