Swiatek, Gauff Post Wins In Rome Masters Openers, Osaka Advances; Sabalenka, RybakinaTomorrow
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Top half favorites Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff rolled at the Rome Masters on Thursday.
Swiatek, the Madrid Masters champion, cruised past American Bernard Pera 6-0, 6-2. The world No. 1 is now 9-1 this clay season.
“At the end, I felt like she playing like she has nothing to lose,” Swiatek said. “I wanted to still to do my job and stick to my tactics. At the end I did that. Overall I’m happy with the match.”
Gauff advanced past Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-3. It wasn’t pretty as Gauff tossed in nine double faults and was broken four times.
“I feel like the other parts of my game are improving in the right direction,” Gauff said aftre the win. “I feel like that’s the part that if I can work that through, I think it will set me up for a very good Roland Garros.
“Other than that, I feel like I’m returning well, hitting off the ground well. For me, if I can get that part well, I can do well.”
Former No. 1 Naomi Osaka scored a big win knocking out Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-2 for her first Top 20 win on clay.
“I’m going into this match knowing that she has way more experience than me on clay,” Osaka said to the WTA. “I feel like I’m still a baby giraffe, like I’m trying to learn my steps.
“I’m just extremely humble. I want to learn from the match I played today and hopefully apply that.”
No. 6 Marketa Vondrousova took care of Ana Bogdan of Romania 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Diana Shnaider 15th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova 6-1, 6-3. No. 10 Daria Kasatkina moved past Germany’s Tatjana Maria 7-5, 6-1.
Ahead tomorrow, key matches include in second round play highlighted by No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka who will meet Katie Volynets in a first-time tour-level meeting
No. 4 Elena Rybakina will challenge Irina-Camelia Begu, No. 5 Maria Sakkari locks up with Varvara Gracheva, No. 8 Ons Jabeur takes on Sofia Kenin, No. 9 Jelena Ostapenko will battle Anastasia Potapova, No. 13 Danielle Collins takes on Anna Blinkova and No. 16 Elina Svitolina clashes with Sara Errani.
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