This content was published 3 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.
The second and final day of qualifications at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia came to its end before sunset, but so did the hopes to qualify for several top seeds in both draws.
This was particularly true on the WTA side of things, with none of the top 3 seeds surviving the final stage. Sloane Stephens fell by the hands of on-form Tamara Zidansek in two sets. Despite pulling a fight, the American top seed did not manage to find a way to break the solid game of the Slovenian who earned her spot in the main draw. Similar faith for Kristina Mladenovic who lost in straight sets to Vera Zvonareva and Laura Siegemund who was defeated by Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets. However, the second and third seeds got a second chance, as they will take a place in the main draw as lucky losers.
On a day of falling seeds, Alize Cornet managed to be the only top 5 player of the qualifications to earn her spot in the main draw with a victory. She edged past Andrea Petkovic at the end of a dramatic second set tiebreak.
Straight set victories also came for Bernarda Pera over Anastasia Potapova, Marta Kostyuk over Nao Hibino, and Polona Hercog over Sara Errani. A two-hour and three-set battle, instead, gave Christina McHale her ticket to the main draw as she took the win over 5th seed Patricia-Maria Tig.
It felt like a slightly calmer day on the ATP qualification draw for seeds, compared to the women’s, yet a few surprises happened.
Top seed Cameron Norrie battled for two and a half hours before having the better of Marco Cecchinato in three sets. Just like Tommy Paul, who needed a final set tie-break to break the resistance of Thiago Monteiro.
Two sets were required for two Spaniards to reach the main draw as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Roberto Carballes Baena both needed less than two hours to advance.
Same to be said for Kamil Majchrzak and Hugo Dellien, but in their cases, victories came over two top 5 seeds of the draw: Yoshihito Nishioka and Aljaz Bedene. Unfortunately, Francis Tiafoe had to retire in the middle of the third set against Federico Delbonis.
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