Seventh seed Danielle Collins was in high spirits after defeating former world no. 1 Simona Halep but her joy was cut short by the unseeded Amanda Anisimova.
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A couple of unexpected goodbyes were in order on day six of the 2022 WTA Italian Open. The day marked the end of the round of 16 matches as we now look forward to the last three stages of the clay court competition. Seventh seed Danielle Collins was in high spirits after defeating former world no. 1 Simona Halep but her joy was cut short by the unseeded Amanda Anisimova. The shock victory saw the American bow out of the competition to her compatriot. Collins was not the only one who would be saying an early farewell to Rome. Second seed Paula Badosa was dealt a shock yet crushing defeat by Daria Kasatkina. It was perhaps the biggest shock on the day as Badosa was one of the favourites to win the competition after Iga Swiatek. The Pole, on the other hand, recorded a comfortable victory to advance to the quarter-finals while fourth seed Maria Sakkari ended Coco Gauff’s journey in the Italian capital.
The US’ Danielle Collins round of 2 victory against Simona Halep definitely instilled a lot of confidence in her but compatriot Amanda Anisimova turned out to be her last opponent in Rome. The match ended with Anisimova taking an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win. It can be argued that the seventh seed was not given enough time to recover after facing Halep so sore muscles and fatigue could be major factors. Nevertheless, nothing can be taken away from Anisimova. The unseeded American scored four aces and had a win percentage of 81% and 90% on the first and second serves. She also converted five break points.
Second seed Paula Badosa was faced with a similar problem as Collins as she was given very little time to recover after her round of 32 match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The Spaniard was one of the favourites in the competition but her journey was ended by Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16. The unseeded Russian might not have scored an ace in the match but had a superior win percentage on both first and second serves with 59% and 50% respectively. The Russian also scored seven out of 17 break points.
World no. 1 Iga Swiatek recorded another win under her belt as she eliminated veteran player and 16th seed Victoria Azarenka. The score at the end of the match was 6-4, 6-1 in Swiatek’s favour and the Pole will face Bianca Andreescu in the next round. Swiatek scored a couple of aces and had a 55% win percentage on both the first and second serve. The top seed was clinical as she converted seven out of 10 break points to seal the deal.
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American tennis player and 15th seed Coco Gauff was defeated in straight sets by fourth seed Maria Sakkari in the round of 16. The Greek was confident and clinical in her play as she moves on to the quarter-final in Rome. The score at the end of the match was 6-4, 7-5. Gauff hit five aces, three more than Sakkari but she also committed five double faults. The Greek had a superior win percentage on the first and second serves with 68% and 62% respectively and also converted four out of 12 break points.
