Naomi Osaka reaches next round of WTA 1000 Italian Open

ROME: Naomi Osaka sealed her spot in the second round of the WTA 1000 Italian Open with a 7-6(2) 6-1 victory over Clare Burel on Wednesday.

Former world No. 1 Osaka won six points in a row in the first set tie-breaker and then pulled away in the second set. Osaka will next face 19th seed Marta Kostyuk as she bids to make it past the second round in Rome for just the second time. Elsewhere, Lesia Tsurenko edged past Donna Vekic to reach the next round. Tsurenko came through 6-2 3-6 7-6(5) and will next face 30th seed Anhelina Kalinina.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova rallied from a set down to defeat Taylor Townsend 3-6 6-2 6-0. Magda Linette beat Zhu Lin 6-3, 6-2, Bernarda Pera beat Caroline Dolehide 7-6, 6-3, Aliaksandra Sasnovich beat Anna Karolína Schmiedlova 6-2, 7-6, Elina Avanesyan beat Cristina Bucsa 6-7, 6-0, 7-5 to reach the next round.

In men’s sesction, Alexander Shevchenko beat Fábián Marozsán 6-3, 6-2, Thiago Monteiro beat Gaël Monfils 6-2, 7-5, Flavio Cobolli beat Maximilian Marterer 6-4, 6-2, Pavel Kotov beat Alex Michelsen 6-1, 6-1, Luciano Darderi beat Denis Shapovalov 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, Nuno Borges beat Pedro Martínez 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, Yannick Hanfmann beat Jakub Menšík 6-3, 6-2, Zhang Zhizhen beat Daniel Elahi Galán 6-2, 7-5, Yoshihito Nishioka beat Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 to reach second round. Agencies

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