Amanda Anisimova, the American tennis player, gave her best to get through a more competitive third set in the first round of the Italian Open, Rome 2022.
The world number 32 had to lose the second set before she knocked out Czech Tereza Martincova 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 at the Italian Open.
After winning the first set, the American had to lose seven games in a row to find herself trailing 1-0 in the decider. But she calmed down until it was tied at 3-3, then she broke Martincova to make it 4-3.
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After securing two break point opportunities in the next service game, the world number 32 calmly closed the match which ended after 2 hours 8 minutes.
The victory led Amanda Anisimova to meet 12th seed Belinda Bencic in the second round of the Italian Open.
“After the game, I saw Belinda and I spoke to her. I was like, ‘Good luck tomorrow!’,” said Anisimova. “Then I realized I was going to have a match against him.”
“I played him in Australia and he’s a really good player. I’m sure we’ll go through another epic match. We always play really well against each other so I’m looking forward to that game.”
Powerful play from the baseline area of the 2019 French Open semifinals, Anisimova has seen her reach the semifinals at Charleston this season and she arrived in Rome featuring in the quarter-finals of last week’s Madrid Open.
A number of Americans are also following in Anisimova’s footsteps into the second round of this week’s Italian Open.
Having just entered the final of her career’s first WTA level 1000 tournament at the Madrid Open last week, world number 11 Jessica Pegula had to overcome a challenging match against Liudmila Samsonova.
Playing with a bandaged upper left foot, American Pegula came back after falling from the first set before winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours 16 minutes and Pegula booked a second round tie against Ukrainian Anhelina Kalina.
Meanwhile, another American, Lauren Davis, was surprisingly able to beat the 11th seed, Jelena Ostapenko with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 result.
World number 102, Davis looked comfortable on the red court Foro Italico to oust 2017 French Open champion Ostapenko to earn his first win over a top 20 player of the 2022 season.
Qualifying for the second round of the Italian Open for the second time in his career, Davis will next face 17th seed Elena Rybakina who beat Elina Avanesyan 6-4, 7-6.
