TENNIS WTA Rome – Serena Williams dispelled any doubts on her form after retiring before the Madrid quarter final last week with a convincing 6-2 6-2 win over German Andrea Petkovic. Maria Sharapova remains in contention for her third consecutive title on clay this season after Stuttgart and Madrid with 12 consecutive wins on this surface but she had to dig deep to beat Monica Puig 6-3 7-5. Diego Sampaolo
Interviews, results, order of play, draws of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome
Serena Williams vs Andrea Petkovic 6-2 6-2
Serena Williams dispelled any doubts on her form after retiring before the Madrid quarter final last week with a convincing 6-2 6-2 win over German Andrea Petkovic in 76 minutes.
Serena opened the match with a break to love and backed up the break with a hold to 30 en route to storming to a 4-0 lead after 18 minutes. The Rome defending champion pulled away to 5-1 with a forehand cross-court shot before closing out the set with a backhand after 34 minutes.
In the first set Williams won 13 of her first serve points. On the contrary, Petkovic won eight of her 19 points played on her first serve.
Williams broke serve in the opening game of the second set before fending off three break points in the second game. She hit a backhand winner down the line to break serve in a row to cruise to a 3-0 lead.
Williams committed a double fault by hitting a forehand into the net drop serve for the first time in the match. Petkovic held serve to love to claw her way back to 2-3. Williams held serve to love in the following game to pull away to 4-2 before closing out the match with a service winner. It was not a perfect match for Williams who won 44 percent of her second serve points and committed five double faults but she showed that she is fully recovered from the injury which sidelined from the quarter final in Madrid.
In the next round she will face her compatriot Varvara Lepchenko who beat Sloane Stephens 6-2 6-2.
Maria Sharapova vs Monica Puig 6-3 7-5
Maria Sharapova remains in contention for her third consecutive title on clay this season after Stuttgart and Madrid with 12 consecutive wins on this surface but she had to dig deep to beat Monica Puig 6-3 7-5.
In her first match after beating Simona Halep 1-6 6-2 6-3 in Madrid last Sunday Sharapova rallied from 0-2 15-30 reeling off six of the next seven games to clinch the first set. Puig cruised to a 4-1 lead in the second set but Sharapova fought back winning six of the next seven games to close out the match and clinch her 16th win in a row in the Eternal city where she will be looking to repeat the title won in 2012.
“I had a little bit of a slow start. It took me a little bit to get a good feeling out there but once I did, I felt really strong and I am happy I was able to close out the match after being down in the second set”, said Sharapova
She will face Ana Ivanovic in a blockbuster third round in a re-match of the recent Stuttgart final. The Serbian player beat Frenchwoman Alizé Cornet 7-6 7-5.
Sara Errani avenged her friend Roberta Vinci’s defeat against Ekaterina Makarova beating the Russian player 6-2 6-3. The Italian player, semifinalist in Rome last year, got an early break in the opening set and reeled off 8 of the first nine points. The 2012 Roland Garros finalist broke serve early in the second set for 2-1 en route to winning the second set. Errani converted four of her six break point chances and never faced a single break point. She dropped just seven first serve points
There was further delight for Italian tennis as Francesca Schiavone bounced back from a set down to edge Garbine Muguruza 3-6 6-1 7-6 (7-5) and Flavia Pennetta overcame a second-set loss to beat Swiss rising star Belinda Bencic 6-2 2-6 6-3
