This content was published 5 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

Cristiana Ferrando gave the home fans at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia something to shout about when she prevailed in a three-set tussle against France’s Pauline Parmentier in her first qualifying match on Court 4.

The Italian wildcard needed over two hours to record a 6-4 0-6 6-3 victory over the No. 16 seed who is ten years older and sits 386 places higher in the rankings. Ferrando was the only female Italian player to advance on the opening day at the Foro Italico after Olympic champion Monica Puig overcame Anastasia Grymalska 6-4 6-2, 20-year-old Lucrezia Stefanini fell in straight sets to No. 15 seed Tamara Zidansek and Georgia Brescia succumbed to No. 13 seed Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-3.

Petkovic will face top seed Maria Sakkari on Sunday in her second qualifying round after the Greek player overcame a spirited challenge from former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva in a match that was much closer than the 6-4 6-2 scoreline suggests.

Viktorija Golubic battled back from a set down to knock out No. 9 seed Tatiana Maria and secure her place in the second round of qualifying where she will face Polona Hercog. The Slovenian caused an upset of her own when defeating No. 5 seed Yafan Wang 6-2 6-4 in the opening match on Court 4.

No. 2 seed Amanda Anisimova and No. 11 seed Kristina Mladenovic will play each other in the second round after recording straight sets victories over Anastasia Potapova and Fiona Ferro respectively. Ferro had received a last minute call up into the qualifying draw after Kaia Kanepi withdrew.

Mladenovic’s compatriot Alize Cornet, the No. 3 seed, also advanced to the second round of qualifying after overcoming Poland’s Magda Linette 6-4 2-6 6-3. Her opponent on Sunday will be No. 14 seed Aleksandra Krunic’s conqueror Kristyna Pliskova.

Former Roland Garros finalist Sam Stosur was only on court for 34 minutes before Margarita Gasparyan was forced to retire with a right wrist injury while Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur wrapped up a 6-0 6-2 victory over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in just 64 minutes in the opening qualifying match on Court 6.

Other winners on day one included Irina-Camelia Begu, Rebecca Peterson and Mona Barthel, who received a place in the qualifying draw as a result of Jennifer Brady’s withdrawal.

Qualifying concludes on Sunday with main draw matches starting on Monday.