Rome Open: Twice former champ in the Italian capital, Elina Svitolina exits in 1R

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Elina Svitolina lost her first-round match at the Rome Open on Wednesday. In a Ukrainian derby, Lesia Tsurenko defeated Svitolina 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 36 minutes. In the first set, Svitolina and Tsurenko traded breaks before the latter gained the upper hand towards the business end of the set.

A break of serve on Svitolina’s serve in the ninth game Tsurenko the chance to serve it out. The second set’s start was marked by another exchange of breaks before Tsurenko righted her ship. Svitolina’s last service hold – in the set and in the match – came in the fifth game.

Thereafter, her 68th ranked opponent won four games in a row to get the win for herself. In the next round, Tsurenko will play 28th seed Bernarda Pera.

Rome Open: Linda Fruhvirtova was no match for Elena-Gabriela Ruse

Elena-Gabriela Ruse notched a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win over Linda Fruhvirtova in their first-round clash.

Ruse had to deal with a brief delay with finishing off the match due to rain right towards the end of the second set. However, she brushed past this inconvenience to pocket the win after only 62 minutes of play. Ruse won 67% of her first-serve points to her opponent’s 50%.

The Romanian, however, had bigger success both in winning second-serve points and second-serve return points. The world no. 32 finished the match by winning 73% of her second-serve points and 89% points on return on Fruhvirtova’s second serve.

The qualifier will now play 12th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia. In the evening session, home player Camila Giorgi came from down a set against Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus to move into the second round. The Italian needed two hours and seven minutes to clinch a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory and will play 15th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Lastly, Paula Badosa also advanced to the second round of the Rome Open. The Spaniard went on to drop the opening set against German qualifier, Anna-Lena Friedsam but completed a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2) win after two hours and 37 minutes.

She will clash against fourth seed Ons Jabeur.