Reports of the WTA matches of the day at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia
The second day of main draw action on the WTA draw at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia was a mix of emotional battles and solid performances that defined all round two matches here in Rome.
The rainy Roman afternoon gave mixed feelings to the local fans as while on Pietrangeli Elisabetta Cocciaretto sailed past Lauren Davis with a dominant performance, on court 1 youngster Matilde Paoletti lost a tight battle to Magdalena Frech.
The Polish qualifier had the better of the 20-year-old after a 2 hours and 40 minutes battle closed 4-6 6-2 7-5. The Italian showed great moments of brilliance, especially with her forehand, and even led for most of the deciding set, but it was the solidity of Frech to eventually win the match.
On the other hand, Cocciaretto proved her great moment of form this season and left no chance and only three games to Davis in her 6-3 6-0 victory. A sweet day for the 22-year-old, as she finally conquered her first victory in Rome, worth a second round against Anastasia Potapova.
The return of two-time Roman champion Elina Svitolina was short-lived. Coming back from maternity, the Ukrainian still looked rusty on her match against compatriot Lesia Tsurenko. Despite the two-sets loss, Svitolina played at a high intensity and showed some good tennis at times, but the lack of matches played a role in the key moments, when Tsurenko was more clutch and eventually took the 6-4 6-3 victory.
Among the numerous epic battled that fired the program of the day, one of the most dangerous unseeded players on the draw had to dig deep to get past her first round: Sorana Cirstea struggled to find the feeling with the heavy courts and quickly fell a set behind Katie Volynets. The Romanian, strong of a loud bunch of supporters on Pietrangeli, slowly found her groove and battled for every point until she managed to take a hard-fought 2-6 6-3 6-4 victory.
Share
