Monday was another day of the WTA 1000 Internazionali BNP D'Italia when part of the matches got interrupted by the weather. Only 6 out of 8 matches got played today because of the rain which forced the tournaments hosts to reschedule two matches from the evening session for tomorrow. Two interesting matchups - Iga Swiatek vs Donna Vekic and Paula Badosa vs Karolina Muchova will complete whole the round of 16 tomorrow.
Elena Rybakina waits for the winner of match between Swiatek and Vekic, as the Kazakh has advanced into the quarterfinals after the routine victory over Marketa Vondrousova. Interestingly, it was the Czech who was rated as a pre-match favorite with an odd 1.55. Vondrousova, who has a great winning ratio in recent weeks, started the match well with a break in the opening game, but Rybakina raised up the level and quickly moved up into the lead in this set. Vondrousova was putting a pressure on the reigning Wimbledon champion and produced 5 breakpoints in the later stages of the set, but Rybakina managed to hold both games and clinched it eventually, following this by taking the control of the second set from the start to finish. 6-3 6-3 in just 74 minutes brought the possible Rybakina vs Swiatek clash really close, if the Pole does not get upset by Donna Vekic in tomorrow's pending round of 16 match.
Jelena Ostapenko continues a great run in Rome, as she defeated Daria Kasatkina in 6-4 4-6 6-0 and reached out her first quarterfinal since Australian Open. The Latvian clinched the opening set despite being down a break after 7 games. Ostapenko stormed her opponent in the last three games of first set, as she broke Kasatkina twice in a row and finished the set by winning 12 out of the last 14 points there. Kasatkina started the second set with a break earned after a long game with 6 deuces, which was a standard in this set, but as it panned out, the break from the opening game was decisive there. Ostapenko created 7 breakpoints later in the set, but did not manage to level the score. Nothing was lost for the 20th seed though, as she clicked the 5th gear in the decider and performed another bagel after yesterday's match against Barbora Krejcikova. Ostapenko playing with this aggresive and effective style, being consistent like in recent days in Rome by overplaying 3 notable opponents in a row, can be dangerous for everyone. The winner of pending match between Badosa and Muchova will play against the Latvian in the QFs.
Veronika Kudermetova plays a great clay season so far, as the Russian continues the good run of form after reaching out the semifinals in Madrid. Kudermetova gave no chances for Marie Bouzkova and advanced into QFs with a great style, scoring an impressive amount of 46 winners, as she outplayed her opponent massively during the match which ended up with a score 6-2 6-2 after just 79 minutes. The 11th seed sets up an intriguing quarterfinal against Qinwen Zheng. The 20 years-old Chinese won an intense match against her fellowcountry Xiyu Wang, moving up into QFs of WTA 1000 level tournament as the third Chinese in the history after 2,5 hours of battle ended up with a score 6-4 3-6 6-1. This victory is a milestone for Zheng who has assured herself the advance into top 20 of WTA rankings after the tournament in Foro Italico.
Beatriz Haddad Maia has occured to be better in the clash between two best South American players in the field, as she defeated Camila Osorio in straight sets 6-3 6-3. The match was settled by the great streak of the Brazilian, who has won 6 games in a row since the score 3-3 in the opening set. It was an ultimate performance displayed from Haddad Maia, who needed to face just one single breakpoint throughout whole the match. The 12th seed plays against Anhelina Kalinina in the quarters, as the Ukrainian defeated Madison Keys by coming back from being a set down, 2-6 6-2 6-4.
