Internazionali BNL d'Italia: Elise Mertens makes winning transition, reaches R2

Tenth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan started off the opening day of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome with a win. In the first round, Rybakina defeated Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 6-4 in just 64 minutes. This was the third meeting between the pair and on both previous occasions, it had been the Russian who had gotten the better of Rybakina – in the final of the Shenzhen International, in January and in the first round of the Western and Southern Open, in August.

“I am happy because I played against her already twice. It's a different surface and of course I know how she plays, I had tactics before the match that I followed,” Rybakina said, after the match.

Rybakina will play the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova in the second round. Bouzkova won against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 40 minutes.

Sixteenth seed Donna Vekic was upset by the United States’ Amanda Anisimova in their opening-round match. The Croatian, who began a new coaching partnership with French coach Sam Sumyk this week, led by a break in both sets but Anisimova came through in straight sets. Anisimova won in tie-breaks 7-6(4), 7-6(6) in two hours and 27 minutes.

Anisimova awaits the winner between Italian wildcard Camila Giorgi and Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in the second round.

Internazionali BNL d'Italia: Elise Mertens returns to victorious ways

Eleventh seed Elise Mertens dropped just four games in her opening-round match. The Belgian, who made it to the semi-finals at the US Open last week, outperformed the tricky Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei winning 6-3, 6-1 in an hour and 11 minutes. Up next for Mertens is Pole Magda Linette. Linette beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko in one hour and 33 minutes, 6-4, 6-3.

Montenegrin qualifier Danka Kovinic beat Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-1, 6-0 in their opener. Kovinic needed just 63 minutes to get the win and advance to the next round where she will play the sixth-seed Swiss Belinda Bencic.

Bencic’s compatriot Jil Teichmann, however, lost her first-round match to Russian qualifier Anna Blinkova. Blinkova won 6-3, 6-3 in 75 minutes. Blinkova’s compatriot Veronika Kudermetova lost to Barbora Strycova by the same score-line in their opener. Strycova needed an hour and 31 minutes to move into the second round where a Czech derby against second seed Karolina Pliskova awaits her.

The other Russian playing her first-round match, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, however, moved into the round-of-32. Pavlyuchenkova needed three sets to move past China’s Shuai Zhang. After two hours and nine minutes of match-time, Pavlyuchenkova won 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1. She will play the fourth-seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina next.

Lastly, another Italian wildcard Jessica Paolini got the better of Latvian Anastasia Sevastova in their round-of-64 match. Paolini won comfortably in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in 66 minutes. In the second round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Paolini will take on the top-seed Simona Halep.  

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