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Seeds sprang into action on Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, and Iga Swiatek led the charge into round 3 with a resounding win over Bernarda Pera, while Coco Gauff charged past Magdalena Frech, Marketa Vondrousova overtook Ana Bogdan, and Zheng Qinwen saw off Shelby Rogers.
There were wins also for Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber and Paula Badosa, amongst others, as the WTA 1000 event got back on track after rain curtailed play on Wednesday afternoon.
Top seed Swiatek kicked off her campaign with a 6-0 6-2 victory over Pera, a qualifier, in 77 minutes, fending off a late charge by the American. Swiatek won the title in Rome in 2021 and 2022, but had to pull out mid-match in the quarter-finals with a thigh injury last year, sending Elena Rybakina on to become the eventual champion.
The 22-year old Pole reached her 3rd-round spot for the 4th consecutive year, experiencing her only opening-round loss at the Foro Italico on her 2020 tournament debut, when she fell to Arantxa Rus.
At the end, I felt like [Pera was] playing like she has nothing to lose,” Swiatek said afterwards. “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.”
Swiatek, who is aiming to win the title again in Rome, for a 3rd time, dominated Pera from the outset, pocketing a routine opener by breaking 3 times to bake a bagel in just half an hour before becoming embroiled in a more difficult second set, but she eventually cracked it open with a break for 3-1. She needed 8 break points in that protracted game before taking the lead, and Pera fought to the end, erasing 2 match points at 5-1 and slamming a forehand winner to break Swiatek for the first time all day, but, in the next game, the Pole converted her 3rd match point to seal the deal.
Swiatek, who now edges ahead of Rybakina as this year’s match-win leader, with 31 victories in 2024, meets Yulia Putintseva next, after the Kazakh upset Sloane Stephens, the No 31 seed from USA, 6-3 6-2.
Earlier in the day, 3rd-seeded Coco Gauff was a 6-3 6-3 winner over Poland’s Magdalena Frech in an hour and 28 minutes, striking 28 winners against her 25 unforced errors, with 9 of those miscues presenting as double-faults.
Marketa Vondrousova, the No 6 seed and the reigning Wimbledon champion, took care of Ana Bogdan of Romania, 6-2 3-6 6-4, in 2 hours 26 minutes after nearly going down a double-break in the third set, and the Czech left-hander will meet another Romanian in Sorana Cirstea, the 28th seed.
China’s Zheng Qinwen, the No 7 seed, reached the 3rd-round by easily defeating American Shelby Rogers, 6-2 6-0, and will play Czech Linda Noskova, the 29th seed, who fought her way past Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini, 6-3 7-6(1), in front of a raucous crowd.
Naomi Osaka’s match was interrupted by rain but she completed an efficient 6-3 6-2 win against World No 20 Marta Kostyuk, from Ukraine and seeded 19, the Japanese’s first career victory against a Top 20 player on clay.
It was one of her best performances since returning from maternity leave in January, and followed her straight-sets win over France’s Clara Burel on Wednesday, while it also is the first time that Osaka has posted back-to-back victories on clay since 2019.
Osaka will face a familiar face in the 3rd-round in Daria Kasatkina, the 11th seed from Russia in their first meeting since the 2018 Indian Wells final, which Osaka won, 6-3 6-2, to capture her first Hologic WTA Tour title.
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