9th seed Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain won the battle against Britain’s Johanna Konta (seeded 7th) as she came out victorious 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the Rome quarterfinals for the third time in her career.
Gabine Muguruza, a two-time Grand Slam champion, ensured victory in straight sets having extended into three sets in their previous meetings.
The pair had played four times previously (three times in WTA main draws and once in qualifying).
Watch the match highlights below
“I served well, I was there in the right moments, and it went my side,” says Muguruza, in her post-match press conference. “I really took my chances. Yeah, I’m just happy to be able to face another player and to get a victory.”
“I’m happy, of course, because every time we play, we play long matches,” says Muguruza. “This time, I think I played a little bit smarter.”
Muguruza has now reached the quarterfinals or better at six of the seven events she has played in 2020, improving to 20-5 on the season.
“I think I’m facing very good players,” Muguruza states. “It’s great, because honestly, that’s what I’m looking for, just to play matches and to face right away good matches, good opponents, and to see where I’m at.”
Konta who reached the Rome final last season matched Muguruza in winners with 15 apiece but was undone by 22 unforced errors, compared to only 13 unforced errors for the Spaniard.
Muguruza, currently ranked 17th in the world, is now one win away from matching her career-best performances in Rome, having reached the semifinals in both 2016 and 2017.
She will next face Victoria Azarenka, who advanced after Daria Kasatkina, unfortunately, suffered an injury during the first-set tiebreak of their match.
Azarenka, however, has an edge in this matchup having defeated Muguruza in two of their three previous meetings.
“I’m looking forward to a good match, another tough opponent,” said Muguruza. “Also, [Azarenka is] playing great, so it’s a good quarterfinal. It’s what you expect to be in quarterfinals, facing the players that are playing well.”
Simona Halep defeats Dayana Yastremska
Former French Open champion Simona Halep recovered from 3-0 down in the first set to beat Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 7-5 6-4 in Rome.
Romania’s Halep will face Yulia Putintseva in Italian Open quarter-final. Putinseva dispatched her fellow Kazakh Elena Rybakina 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.
Watch the highlights below
Karolina Pliskova continues her title defence after seeing off Anna Blinkova
Defending champion Karolina Pliskova eased to a 6-4 6-3 victory over Anna Blinkova. The Czech, who successfully defended a title for the first time in her career in Brisbane this January, is bidding to do so again this week, and the result over Blinkova gets her into the quarterfinals in the Italian capital for the third time in total.
Watch the highlights below
Having previously defeated Blinkova 6-0, 6-2 in their only previous meeting, in the second round of the 2017 Australian Open – the Russian’s Grand Slam debut – Pliskova won after 24 winners to 23 unforced errors and an 81% winning percentage behind her first serve got her over the line.
Meanwhile, two-time Rome winner Elina Svitolina also progressed after a 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The No.4 seed, who hoisted the Rome singles trophy in 2017 and 2018, overcame two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova in an hour and 54 minutes.
“Definitely very happy with the game tonight,” Svitolina says, during her post-match press conference. “It was a big fight. I was expecting the big battle, as always from [Kuznetsova]. She’s a great fighter, and she never gives you easy matches.”
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