World number two Aryna Sabalenka suffered an early shock at the Italian Open on Thursday as the in-form Belarusian crashed to a 7-6(4) 6-2 defeat by American Sofia Kenin in a high-octane second-round match.
World No.5 Coco Gauff advanced to the third round of the Italian Open after defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-0, 6-1 in her opening match on Thursday.
En route to her 59-minute victory, the 19-year-old American fired 29 winners while holding Putintseva to just one. While she served at just 44 per cent first serves in, Gauff did not face a break point in the match. In contrast, Putintseva served at 72 per cent first serves, but was broken five times.
Gauff came into her match against Putintseva with a 2-0 lead in their head-to-head. The Kazakhstani endured a three-hour duel 24 hours earlier, defeating Viktorija Tomova, 6-7, 7-6, 6-0 in the first round. The fatigue from that effort was evident against Gauff, as Putintseva was a step off of her trademark defensive prowess. Gauff responded by overpowering her from the baseline.
“I usually have long matches with her. I was fully prepared for that. But I told myself to play on my terms, not her terms,” Gauff said.
“She’s obviously a tricky player, has some big wins. Made the quarters of the French a couple of times. I know clay is her surface. It’s also kind of mine, too, so it was a good match today,” she added.
The American’s performance was a strong recovery from her disappointing 6-3, 6-0 loss to Paula Badosa in the third round of Madrid.
Gauff will face 27th seed Marie Bouzkova next for a spot in the Round of 16. Bouzkova rallied from 4-0 down to Caty McNally to win 10 consecutive games before closing out a 6-4, 6-3 win.
David Goffin beats Luca Nardi
David Goffin needed all of his experience to outlast Italy’s Luca Nardi on Thursday at the Italian Open, where the Belgian escaped a precarious position to book his spot in the second round at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000.
The two-time quarter-finalist Goffin prevailed 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to face 2017 champion Alexander Zverev in the Italian capital. Although he trailed the 19-year-old home favourite Nardi 3-6, 2-4, Goffin converted four of his five break points across the second and third sets to seal a two-hour, 22-minute triumph at the Foro Italico.
“I was a little bit tight at the beginning of the match and he was playing well. He didn’t leave me any [chances] in the first set and at the beginning of the second. It was a few points that made the difference, because he had the break, and I was really close to coming back in some long games,” said Goffin.
The former World No. 7 Goffin dropped out of the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since July 2014 on Monday after struggling for consistency and with his fitness this year.
The 32-year-old was pleased with the way he had dug deep to earn his first Masters 1000 victory of 2023.
“If it would have been [6-3, 6-4] for him, it would have been, ‘OK, congrats’, but I had to fight and I won a few important points in the second to turn it around,” said Goffin.
“After that, I started to play even better and he was a little bit mentally down. I started to play more in the third, so I’m very happy I managed to win this one,” he added.
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