It was a massacre that hit the women’s tournament in Rome on Thursday with the eliminations of world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka, number 3 Jessica Pegula and the 2019 winner and ex-number 1 Karolina Pliskova, pending entry into Novak Djokovic’s Friday. Hecatomb also in the French camp where of the seven Tricolores in the running, only Caroline Garcia won.
But it was hard for the 4th in the world against the Romanian Ana Bogdan (59th) who served for the match at 5-4 in the third set before losing 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. The 29-year-old Frenchwoman will face Colombian Camila Osorio (115th) to try to reach the round of 16. After the elimination of Alizé Cornet, she is the only Habs still in contention in the third round of the women’s draw.
Swept Mannarino
In the men’s draw, Adrian Mannarino (45th) was swept 6-1, 6-2 by Brazilian Thiago Monteiro (98th), Ugo Humbert (50th) had two match points before losing to Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori (43rd) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), Jérémy Chardy (591st) did not weigh heavily against the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (48th) winner 6-2, 6-1 and Corentin Moutet lost a disjointed match against Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (135th) 6-0, 6-7 (8/10), 6-2.
Hugo Grenier (124th), drafted to replace his compatriot Quentin Halys (71st), forfeited, gave American JJ Wolf (54th) a hard time before giving up 7-5, 7-5.
lightning
The day after the rain, it was lightning that fell on the women’s draw on Thursday with the elimination of three of its main headliners. It was first the Czech Pliskova (14th), still a finalist in the tournament in 2021, who left Foro Italico through the back door after her 7-5, 6-2 defeat against the Hungarian Anna Bondar (93rd). Then the American Pegula was surprised by her compatriot Taylor Townsend (168th and qualifying) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
“I’m very proud of myself,” commented Townsend, whose feat so far was reaching the Round of 16 at the US Open in 2019. Since then, she has not confirmed. , but is trying to get back to her best after giving birth in 2021. “I’ve been working really, really hard for two years to come back. To experience times like this,” the 27-year-old explained. Later, it was another explosion that shook the center court with the elimination of Belarusian Sabalenka as soon as she entered the running by the American Sophia Kenin (134th) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
“Exhausted”
Just over two weeks before Roland-Garros, towards which she was advancing in the shoes of one of the favourites, in particular after her final victory in Madrid against Iga Swiatek, world number 1 and defending champion in Paris, this defeat could be cause for concern Sabalenka. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. “Exhausted. I really need to recharge the batteries,” she simply tweeted, obviously not too psychologically affected by her premature defeat.
It must be said that since the beginning of the year, it has been leading the way. By winning Thursday, Kenin, ex-4th in the world, who never really confirmed her title at the Australian Open in 2020 even if she reached the final at Roland-Garros the same year, put a stop at the brilliant start to the season of Belarus. The latter has indeed won three of the five finals played in 2023 (WTA 500 in Adelaide, Australian Open and Masters 1000 in Madrid) and had never lost before the quarter-finals of the seven tournaments in which she had participated since the start. 2023.