Cori Gauff, the 15th seed, will face Maria Sakkari, the fourth seed, who will meet in one of the third rounds of the Italian Open in Rome for the 2022 season.
After winning over Grand Slam champion and former world number 1 Angelique Kerber in the first round of the Italian Open, the fifth seed looked strong as she beat compatriot Madison Brengle 6-2, 6-4.
Meanwhile, the Greek tennis player, Sakkari started the journey in Rome with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 victory over last week’s Madrid Open semifinalist, Ekaterina Alexandrova.
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The 15th seed and fourth seed will meet this week for the fifth time in their careers. The American’s only win over a Greek came in Rome last season when he picked up a three-set win in the second round.
“I admire him because he is an amazing athlete,” Sakkari commented about Cori Gauff. “She’s a lovely girl, which is more important to me than anything. The way he coped with his success, he was just 15 years old when he hit the ground running. It’s a very smart way from him and from the people around him to deal with things.”
“We played each other in Doha, which took place on hard courts, of course the conditions were different. I trust my clay-court game. I think it will be an epic match for everyone watching.”
Meanwhile, ahead of the rematch against Sakkari, Gauff stated, “Playing against Sakkari here last season definitely gave me a lot of confidence. It was definitely a match that I think can build my confidence for the clay-court season. This match, regardless of the result, as long as I give my best, I think I will be happy.”
“I’m really excited for the next game, because I feel whenever I play against him there are always some positive points. I will be ready for a lot of running, because he hit some hard balls, but I think it will be an impressive game.”
While the eighth seed, Aryna Sabalenka only needed 49 minutes to start the journey at the Italian Open. He silenced Zhang Shuai 6-2, 6-0. Throughout the match he hit 22 winners by committing 13 unforced errors and never faced a single break point against the world number 42.
In the third round, Sabalenka will meet Gauff’s compatriot Jessica Pegula who received a WO after her Ukrainian opponent, Anhelina Kalinina withdrew due to a back injury.
“Honestly, I feel like my season has just started with the clay-court season, because at the start of the season I struggled a lot against a lot of things,” admits Sabalenka.
“I couldn’t serve, I wasn’t used to playing, I didn’t feel good on the court. I started training extra hard. From some clay-court tournaments, I started to play better. I feel better and I rediscovered my fighting power.”
