“I gave my all. I couldn’t just give up and leave the court. I had the feeling that if my body allows me to play even 15% of my best tennis, I will stay there and fight”, said Aryna Sabalenka after the success.

Aryna Sabalenka lost in the first set, but was very convincing in the second. However, the third setstarted with an advance for Svitolina – 2:0. The Belarusian player managed to win four games in a row, but was unable to close the match on her serve, serving at 5:4. Aryna Sabalenka even managed to save a match point for the Ukrainian when she served at 5-6 to stay in the match.

Elina Svitolina reached two match points in the deciding tiebreak as well, but Aryna Sabalenka again saved them and then prevailed over her opponent. The match lasted 2 hours and 24 minutes.

In the quarter-finals, Aryna Sabalenka, who reached the final in Madrid, will face 9th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia), who eliminated the Slovakian qualifier Rebecca Sramkova (Slovakia) by 2-1 (4:6, 6:4, 7:6) to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Rome Open for the fourth time in her career.

This will be the first clay-court match between Jelena Ostapenko and Aryna Sabalenka, with the reigning Australian Open champion winning both of their hard-court encounters.

Another player from Belarus – Victoria Azarenka, also qualified for the quarterfinals, defeating the 5th-seeded Maria Sakkari (Greece) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:1). In the next phase, she will play against Danielle Collins (USA), who won convincingly over Irina-Camelia Begu (Romania) by 2-0 (6:0, 6:3).

A powerful serve is a powerful weapon, but the US Open champion averaged ten double faults in her five matches on red courts before the tournament in Rome.

Cori Coco Gauff also committed 11 double faults in her 2-1 (5:7, 6:4, 6:1) win over Paula Badosa (Spain), but she stressed that she is already seeing improvements in her serve ahead of Roland Garros.

“I’m hitting a strong first serve and I know maybe I’ll mess up more. I’m finding the balance now between hitting hard and knowing when to slow down to get the shot in”, said Cori Coco Gauff, who is a 2022 Roland Garros finalist. “I bet my serve will become very dangerous. Even though I want to win this tournament, I’m thinking long-term. I don’t want to lose my serve at 120 mph and I’m going to try to do that”, added she.

Cori Coco Gauff, coached by Brad Gilbert and Jean-Christophe Faurel, said he is trying to make some technical improvements to his serve.

In a match of the fourth round, Iga Swiatek eliminated Angelique Kerber (Germany) with 2-0 (7:5, 6:3) in an hour and 39 minutes of play. The Polish tennis player will face 18th-seeded Madison Keys (USA) in contention to reach the semi-finals.

Iga Swiatek led by 5:3 in the first set against Angelique Kerber, but allowed a 5:5 tie before making it 7:5 on her fifth set point. In the second set, Angelique Kerber made an early break, but Iga Swiatek quickly equalized at 2:2. She again took a 5:3 lead after her second break in the set and won 6:3.

Madison Keys (USA) eliminated 28th-seeded Sorana Cirstea (Romania) after 2-0 (6:2, 6:1) to reach the quarterfinals. The match, in which Madison Keys completely dominated, lasted only 65 minutes.

The 7th-seeded Qinwen Zheng (China) also qualified for the quarterfinals, defeating Naomi Osaka (Japan) in the fourth round by 2-0 (6:2, 6:4) in an hour and 24 minutes of play. It was Naomi Osaka’s first appearance at the tournament in Rome in three years.

Qinwen Zheng’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be third-seeded Cori Coco Gauff. The American player prevailed in a contested clash over Paula Badosa (Spain) after a turnaround with 2-1 (5:7, 6:4, 6:1). The meeting lasted two hours and 28 minutes.

Cori Coco Gauff trailed 3:5 in the first set, tied for 5:5, but Paula Badosa still won it by 7:5. The rivals exchanged a total of five breaks in the second set, but the American tennis player was more stable in the key moments for 6:4 and leveling the result – 1-1. Paula Badosa started with a break in the third, but a great run of six games in a row for Cori Coco Gauff ensured her final success.

Top-seeded Iga Swiatek was perfect against Bernarda Pera (USA), winning by 2-0 (6:0, 6:2) in just 78 minutes of play in her first match in Rome. The Polish tennis player won seven games in a row at the start of the match, took a 5:1 lead in the second set and confidently closed the match 6:2 in her favor.

In the next round, Iga Swiatek will face Yulia Putintseva (Kazakhstan), who eliminated the 31st-seeded Sloane Stephens (USA) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:2) in 75 minutes of play.

Cori Coco Gauff prevailed over Magdalena Frech (Poland) by 2-0 (6:3, 6:3) in 1:25 hours of play in another match of the second round of the tournament in Rome.

The third-seeded American played allowed a break in the first game of the match, but in total she won her opponent’s serve three times and prevailed 6:3. After exchanging a total of six breaks in the second set, Cori Coco Gauff again reached 6:3 and the ultimate success.

Cori Coco Gauff’s next opponent will be Romanian player Jacqueline Christian.

The 6th-seeded Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) eliminated Ana Bogdan (Romania) by 2-1 (6:2, 3:6, 6:4) in a match that lasted two hours and 28 minutes. Her opponent in the third round will be another representative of Romania – the 28th ranked Sorana Cirstea, who defeated Brenda Fruhvirtova (Czech republic) by 2-0 (7:5, 6:0).

Paula Badosa (Spain) qualified for the third round after defeating the 21st-seeded Emma Navarro (USA) with 2-1 (1:6, 6:4, 6:2), and the 12th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) arranged a match with Madison Keys (USA) in the third round after defeating Xinyu Wang (China) with 2-1 (4:6, 6:3, 6:4).

“The ITIA sent the player a pre-charge notice of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation on 16 April 2024 under Article 2.1 of the TADP (presence of a Prohibited Substance in a Player’s Sample) and/or Article 2.2 (Use of a Prohibited Substance without a valid Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE)”, says the official statement of the ITIA.

The agency announced that Nikola Bartunkova had tested positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine at ITF W50 tournaments in Trnava, Slovakia, in February 2024, and an ITF W75 event in Maribor, Slovenia, in March 2024.

The drug, known as TMZ, was found in the samples of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva in 2021 and 23 Chinese swimmers as they prepared for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Last year, Nikola Bartunkova lost to Clervie Ngounoue (USA) in the final of the Wimbledon girls’ competition. She reached the singles semifinals and the doubles final at the 2022 French Open Girls’ Championship. The Czech tennis player is WTA No 282.

Nikola Bartunkova has been suspended from all tennis events pending a hearing before the ITIA.

Angelique Kerber showed that she continues to pick up the pace after she also started impressively in the first round – a 2-0 (6:1, 6:0) success over Lauren Davis (USA).

Today, in the first set, she made a decisive break for 5:3, and then she was unstoppable in the second, where she took all the games. The 36-year-old German player converted her first point of the match and closed it out in 70 minutes.

This is Angelique Kerber’s first tournament since April in Stuttgart, when she was knocked out in the first round by Emma Raducanu (UK). She returned to the WTA Tour at the start of the year after taking an 18-month maternity leave. In fact, Roland Garros in Paris is the only Slam event she has yet to win. In the next round, Angelique Kerber will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich (Belarus), who eliminated the 14th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) convincingly by 2-0 (6:0, 6:1).

In an all-Russian clash, Diana Schneider knocked out 15th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova by 2-0 (6:1, 6:3) and also advances to the third round. Daria Kasatkina, another Russian and 10th-seeded, stopped Tatjana Maria (Germany) by 2-0 (7:5, 6:1).

Linda Noskova (Czech Republic) eliminated Lucrezia Stefanini (Italy) after 2-0 (6:3, 7:6). The Czech player’s next opponent is Zheng Qinwen (China). The Asian, who is 7th-seeded, went through Shelby Rogers (USA) by 2-0 (6:2, 6:0).

The 32-year-old player has not made an official statement, but on the ITIA page her name appeared on the list of players who are withdrawing. The Italian is said to have decided to retire from the sport on May 7, 2024.

“Camila Giorgi has retired from professional tennis. It’s sad to see her leave the sport so suddenly and quietly. But in a way, it’s poetic. She’s a woman of few words & always let her racquet do the talking”, writes the statement of the ITIA. “She played with effortless power & grace… & that’s the way her career will be remembered. Good luck in your next chapter, Camila”, adds the report.

Camila Giorgi has a total of 4 WTA titles, her biggest being undoubtedly the one from Montreal in 2021 (WTA 1000 Canadian Open / Rogers Cup), where she sensationally beat names like Petra Kvitova and Cori Coco Gauff, and also Karolina Pliskova in the final. In addition, the Italian also has three second-week finishes at majors, including a quarter-final at Wimbledon in 2018, which earned her a top-30 ranking, with her best ranking being 26th.

In addition to her achievements and attractiveness on the court, Camila Giorgi will also be remembered for the vaccine scandal shortly before the Australian Open in 2023, which turned out to be the main reason for her premature retirement from professional tennis. The Italian tennis player was accused of using a fake COVID-19 vaccine certificate. Although the Italian and her team deny the accusations, there is not only a lack of evidence in her defense, but the personal doctor of the tennis player, Daniela Grillone, confirmed the accusations against her. However, in the next few months, Camila Giorgi was allowed to play in WTA-level tournaments, but at the same time, an investigation was being conducted against her, and it was likely that a serious punishment would come for the Italian, who decided to quietly retire from the tennis scene.

“Hello people. I want to inform you that I will miss the tournament in Rome and possibly Roland Garros. I feel good, but I need to avoid aggravating the injury and resume training as soon as possible”, wrote the 30-year-old tennis player on social networks.

Jessica Pegula is currently ranked fifth in the WTA rankings. She has won four singles titles and seven doubles titles on the WTA Tour, including two WTA 1000 titles in each discipline. Jessica Pegula is a six-time major quarterfinalist in singles, having reached this stage at all four Grand Slam tournaments, three times at the Australian Open (2021–2023), and once at the French Open (2022), US Open (2022), and Wimbledon (2023). She has also reached the singles final at the 2023 WTA Finals.

This year’s Roland Garros (French Open) will be held from May 27 to June 9.

The match lasted more than 3 hours, and Iga Swiatek won the 20th trophy in her career. She has a total of 30 wins in the calendar year and is undefeated in her last 7 finals.

From the start, the match was very equal, with the two players trading early breaks but then winning serve. In the 11th game, Iga Swiatek made another break, which turned out to be decisive for the outcome of the set.

Aryna Sabalenka responded appropriately in the second set when the breaks came one after the other. However, the tennis player from Belarus was more concentrated in the most important point and won the set with 6:4.

In the third set, Aryna Sabalenka took a 3:1 lead, but Iga Swiatek returned the break. At 4:5 and 5:6, the Pole saved one match point each to reach a tiebreak. In it, Aryna Sabalenka missed another chance to close the match and eventually lost.

The balance between the two top tennis players is now 7:3 wins in favor of Iga Swiatek.

In the battle for the title, Aryna Sabalenka faces Iga Swiatek (Poland). The leader in the world rankings won easily with 2-0 (6:1, 6:3) against the 18th-seeded Madison Keys (USA) in just 71 minutes.

Last year, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka again played in the final in Madrid, with the representative of Belarus winning by 2-1 (6:3, 3:6, 6:3).

Earlier in 2024, Iga Swiatek won events in Indian Wells and Doha, while Aryna Sabalenka triumphed at the Australian Open.