Rome Italy) – Returning to the WTA 1000 in Rome after three seasons, Japanese Naomi Osaka started her journey at the Foro Italico well. In the second match of the day on the Central Court, the former number 1 in the world and current 173rd place beat Frenchwoman Clara Burel, 45th in the ranking, this Wednesday, by the score of 7/6 (7-2) and 6/1 in 1:24 am.
This was Osaka’s first victory on Roman clay since 2019, when they had their best result of the tournament by reaching the quarterfinals. Her last participation was in 2021, being eliminated on her debut by the American Jessica Pegula.
In the second round, the 26-year-old Japanese will face a confrontation with Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who is having the best season of her career and currently occupies 20th place in the rankings. In 2024, the 21-year-old has already played two finals, on the synthetic surface of San Diego and on the clay of Stuttgart a few weeks ago, and achieved her best Grand Slam campaign, reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
The two have already faced each other once on the circuit, with Osaka winning in three sets in the third round of the US Open in 2020. Whoever advances will face the winner of the game between Russian Daria Kasatkina, the tournament’s 10th main entrant, and the experienced German Tatjana Maria, 35 years old, who debuted with victory this Wednesday over Czech Linda Fruhvirtova, just 19 years old, by 7/6 (7-5), 3/6 and 6/2.
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Linda’s sister, Brenda Fruhvirtova, had the opposite fate and achieved a great upset over the American Taylor Townsend, scoring 3/6, 6/2 and 6/0. She will be the opponent of Romanian Sorana Cirstea, seeded 28th.
World number 1 meets his first challenge
Two-time champion in 2021 and 2022, Polish Iga Swiatek met her first opponent on clay in Rome today. It will be the North American Bernarda Pera, 77th in the ranking, who beat her compatriot Caroline Dohelide, 54th place, by 7/6 (8-6) and 6/3. In the two previous clashes, the current world number 1 came out on top in both, winning comebacks in the qualifiers in Birmingham in 2019 and in straight sets in the third round in Madrid last year.
Another former finalist who will start early in the group and already has a defined rival is the Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, runner-up in 2013. Seeded 24th, the former leader of the ranking will face the Polish Magda Linette, who easily won the Chinese Lin Zhu with partials of 6/2 and 6/3.
Russians advance and Ukrainian duel in the second phase
In four other games already concluded this Wednesday, two Russians and one Belarusian guaranteed a place in the next round. In a very busy duel, Elina Avanesyan beat Spanish Cristina Bucsa by 6/7 (3-7), 6/0 and 7/5. She now faces the Romanian Jaqueline Cristian.
Anna Blinkova overtook Frenchwoman Diane Parry with a 6/2 and 6/3 victory and will challenge North American Danielle Collins, the 13th main favorite and who in her farewell season already has two titles, in Miami and Charleston. In turn, Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who came from qualifying, beat Slovakian Anna Karolina Schmiedlova with partials of 6/2 and 7/6 (8-6) and will face Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, 14th pre-classified.
Finally, Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko beat Croatian Donna Vekic in a 2h39 duel, scoring 6/2, 3/6 and 7/6 (7-5) to guarantee a meeting with compatriot Anhelina Kalinina, seeded 30th. of the competition.
Rain interrupts the round
With five games underway and another eight scheduled for this Wednesday, the round was interrupted due to rain in the Italian capital. At least for now, there is no forecast for the return of matches.
