The quarterfinals at the 2017 Internazionali BNL d’Italia are set with the final eight players emerging from what has been a week full of surprises and big-name losses.
Among the biggest surprises in the round of the last eight is Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit. Playing a very strong spring season, Kontaveit is having another great run in Rome, getting into the quarterfinals by steamrolling Mirjana Lucic-Baroni who made the third round when Maria Sharapova retired on Tuesday night.
Another young player in the quarters is Australia’s Daria Gavrilova. Always doing well in Rome, Gavrilova’s story this week is extra unique as she had to start in the tournament’s qualifying stage despite having a high enough ranking to enter the main draw. The reason is that Gavrilova simply forgot to sign in before the deadline! The extra match play does not seem to hurt Gavrilova’s chances at all though, as she moved past Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday.
Mona Barthel and Elina Svitolina played the last single’s match on Rome’s scenic Pietrangeli court and it turned out to be a frustrating affair for Barthel, since the Prague champion got double-bageled by Svitolina after winning the first set, a rather unusual scoreline.
In the day’s last match, Karolina Pliskova moved past Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky without dropping a set. The quarterfinals are up on Friday, so check back to Women’s Tennis Blog for more from Rome.
MORE PHOTOS FROM THE 2017 INTERNAZIONALI BNL D’ITALIA:
- Wednesday: Kerber, Cibulkova make early exits
- Tuesday: Sharapova’s Rome run cut short by injury
- Monday: Maria Sharapova’s victorious return to Rome
I’m starting to really like Anett Kontaveit. She has really improved the last few weeks. I believe we will see more of her. She can reach Top 30 for sure.