Despite the miserable weather forecasts, all of the 20 matches scheduled for today to be played in Foro Italico have been successfully played to complete the opening round of WTA 1000 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. The fans could witness some great tennis battles till the late night, as possibly the most exciting names from whole the unseeded field have finished their fight for the place in the secound round just even after midnight.
Paula Badosa has surprisingly struggled against Anna Lena Friedsam, as the Spaniard needed 2:39 hours to defeat the qualifier after prevailing in the tiebreak of decisive set. Badosa was a strong pre-match favorite, rated with an odd 1.16 and started it as expected, moving into early lead after earning the break during opening game. After this, the momentum has switched for the favour of German, who came back level in 4th game and grabbed the set with gaining another break in 10th game, when Badosa was serving to stay in this set. The Spaniard needed to bounce back from there and did it well, winning second set in confident style with a score 6-2. The decider was a tight and intense battle, as both players created multiple breakpoints and shared two breaks between themselves to approach the tiebreak. Badosa showed her class there, winning 7-2 and moving into the 2nd round's clash, which everyone was waiting for after revealing the main draw. Ons Jabeur waits there, as the 4th seed comes back after the injury suffered in Stuttgart 3 weeks ago.
It was not the only one exciting match this evening, as the local crowd could cheer for Camila Giorgi. The Italian star has also needed to fight back after losing the opening set to Arantxa Rus, who reached out the main draw from qualifying stage. The match was quite dynamic, as only 4 games have ended up after deuces. Both players were leveled till the score 2-2 in third set, but Giorgi reached the decisive break in 6th game and held her serve till the end. The local favorite play against 15th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in next round.
The local fans could cheer for as many as 6 Italians who participated today's WTA matches in Foro Italico. Apart from Giorgi, only Elisabetta Cocciaretto managed to make it through into second round, after defeating Lauren Davis 6-3 6-0. It was a successful revenge for the final of the WTA 250 Hobart final in January, when the American prevailed in two sets to take the trophy. The others were not considered as favorites in their match-ups, but left the good impression in majority, after pushing the favorized opponents after good battles ended up in the whole match distance. Matilde Paoletti won the opening set in her match against Magdalena Frech, who was a strong pre-match favorite with an odd 1.10. The Italian ranked #294 in WTA list was even leading with a break in decisive set, but did not keep it till the end, as the Pole came back to win it 4-6 6-2 7-5 eventually. Lucia Bronzetti lost to Danka Kovinic, as the Montenegrin prevailed 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the shaky third set, when both players broke themselves 7 times in a row. Camilla Rosatello took Claire Liu for the full distance, despite the American being rated with an odd 1.08 before the match. Liu has needed 2,5 hours to prevail after losing the opening set in tiebreak, but finally defeated the world's number 296 with a score 6-7(9) 6-2 6-2.
Sara Errani did not get in the fight as well as her fellowcountries. The experienced Italian got crushed by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who entered the main draw with a protected ranking. The Russian who still tries to come back into form after losing much time for the injuries last year, has played the best match in this season so far, winning 6-1 6-1 against Errani. Pavlyuchenkova managed to hit 40 winners in the match, which lasted just 63 minutes. The next match will be a big challenge though, as Pavlyuchenkova meets Iga Swiatek in second round.
Camila Osorio has won the most thrilling match of the day, defeating Varvara Gracheva 7-6(4) 1-6 7-6(4). It was the match full of momentum switches and can be generally described as the one, where the Russian was a dominant force, but gave away the advantage in both sets which she lost. Gracheva was serving for the opening set with a score 5-4, but the Colombian managed to fight back and forced the tiebreak, where she prevailed 6-4. Gracheva regrouped well from this, winning the second set dominantly, and continued to display her good performance in the decider, leading 5-2 with a single break advantage. Gracheva had 3 matchpoints during Osorio's serve in 8th game, but the Colombian made a crucial hold there, surviving after 5 deuces. Osorio took the momentum on her side since then, breaking her opponent twice and creating two matchpoints in 12th game during own serve. The world's number 100 has also failed to close the match and tiebreak was needed to settle the winner. Osorio won it same as in the opening set with a score 7-4. The Colombian did not give up despite being in a big trouble and capitalized on the errors from Gracheva's side in the time, when the Russian could close this match much earlier. The world's number 46 was more creative player, producing 20 breakpoints to just 12 created by the eventual match winner.
