Italian Open: Big names continue to fall as Ons Jabeur suffers early exit to Paula Badosa on return from injury

Another big name fell early at the Italian Open as Ons Jabeur's return from injury ended in a straight-sets defeat to Paula Badosa, but Maria Sakkari safely progressed. The Tunisian’s exit means that three of the top four seeds have failed to make it to the last 32, after Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula also suffered shock exits. Ad Badosa applied pressure on Jabeur’s serve throughout, taking five of nine break points to clinch a 6-1 6-4 victory in 70 minutes.

WTA MadridAndreeva stuns Linette on 16th birthday, Gauff loses to Badosa in Madrid Open29/04/2023 AT 19:00 Jabeur matched her opponent’s tally of three aces, and hit 21 winners to Badosa’s 15 but ended with two more unforced errors as her Rome title bid fell apart at the first hurdle. “It was a really tough match, I really respect her,” Badosa said. “We know each other a lot so I was aware of the drop shots.

I’m really happy with my performance.” Swiatek off to stunning start at Italian Open after double-bagel win over Pavlyuchenkova Norrie and Sinner cruise into Rome Masters last 16 with confident wins Exclusive: Becker – Alcaraz is ‘rewriting tennis history’ The match marked Jabeur’s first competitive appearance since retiring from Stuttgart in April with a calf injury. For Badosa, it was an encouraging sign as she notched her second win over a top-10 player in the space of two tournaments after knocking out Coco Gauff on her run to the last 16 of the Madrid Open. The world no.

35 will next face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the 32nd seed, who recorded a 6-0 6-4 win over American Claire Liu. Ninth seed Sakkari is also safely through to the last 32 after earning a 6-1 6-3 win over Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic. But several more seeded players fell on