(Rome) Friday turned out badly for Canadian athletes at the Italian Open.
Quebec’s Félix Auger-Aliassime was beaten in his first outing when Australian Alexei Popyrin defeated him 6-4, 4-6 and 7-5 on clay in Rome.
PHOTO GEOFF BURKE, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Bianca Andreescu
Ontario’s Bianca Andreescu was corrected 6-0 and 6-1 by Marketa Vondrousova.
Auger-Aliassime had a first-round bye while Popyrin defeated compatriot Christopher O’Connell after coming through qualifying.
Popyrin, 77e in the world, continued its momentum by winning against Auger-Aliassime, 10ein a grueling duel of three hours and 17 minutes.
Auger-Aliassime struggled on serve, placing his first serve only 56% of the time. He also committed nine double faults and allowed 16 break points to his rival, who converted three.
Meanwhile, home favorite Jannik Sinner was nearly untouchable in his first outing in front of his home fans, winning 6-1, 6-4 over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Sinner won all 16 points contested while serving in the first set, and 36 of 39 points contested on his serve in all in the game.
PHOTO ALEKSANDRA SZMIGIEL, REUTERS
Jannik Sinner
The Italian ended the game with a nice volley shot on his second match point.
“I’m happy with my level today. It was a little windy and it wasn’t easy, Sinner said. I felt the ball well. »
The last Italian to have triumphed at the Foro Italico was Adriano Panatta in 1976. Raffaella Reggi won the women’s section in 1985 at Taranto.
Ranked eighth this week, Sinner will face in the third round Alexander Shevchenko, who beat Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-4.
Sinner is in the same half as Novak Djokovic, who defeated Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(5), 6-2.
Aiming for a seventh title in Rome, Djokovic erased two losses to clear the first round. The Serb was making a return to action after a three-week break with a right elbow problem.
Fabio Fognini also thrilled the crowd, winning 6-3, 7-6 (6) against Miomir Kecmanovic. Fognini celebrated by bringing his 5-year-old son Federico onto the pitch at the Pietrangeli Stadium.
The Italian will now have seventh-seeded Holger Rune on his way. Rune defeated 18-year-old French qualifier Arthur Fils, 6-3, 6-3.
Note also Cameron Norrie’s 6-2, 6-3 win over Alexandre Muller and Grigor Dimitrov’s 6-4, 7-6 (3) win over Stan Wawrinka.
Two other seeds have fallen. Karen Khachanov, 11elost 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) against Grégoire Barrère, while Sebastian Korda, 22elost 6-2, 7-5 ahead of Roman Safiullin.
Andreescu only struggled for 56 minutes, suffering six breakages and four double faults.
She is 31e in the world, 39 ranks better than Vondrousova.
Favorite Iga Swiatek began her march to a third consecutive title in Rome with a resounding 6-0, 6-0 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Swiatek have won their last 12 games in the Italian capital.
“I’m comfortable here,” Swiatek said. I feel that the conditions are good for me to play well. »
Paula Badosa defeated Ons Jabeur 6-1, 6-4. Jabeur had lost in the final against Swiatek last year.
Ninth seed Maria Sakkari defeated Barbora Strycova 6-1, 6-3. Karolina Muchova knocked out Italy’s No. 1 Martina Trevisan, 18e seeded, 3-6, 6-3 and 7-5.
In doubles, sixth-seeded Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani lost 2-6, 6-2, 10-8 to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Marie Bouzkova.
With The Canadian Press
