First-round action continued on a rainy Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Our Jimmie48 was photographing most of the matches, as well as practice sessions of players still awaiting to start their campaign in Rome.
Lucky loser Kristina Mladenovic knocked out tenth seed Belinda Bencic 6-3 6-4 and avenged her recent loss to the Swiss in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open.
I love these flying plait photos.
The world No.53 Mladenovic looked stunning in the black version of the Prime Blue Dope Dye Jumpsuit and the Match Skirt from Adidas’ eco-friendly collection dominated by iridescent tones.
Coming back from a hip injury, Roland Garros semifinalist Nadia Podoroska overcame lucky loser Laura Siegemund 2-6 7-6(3) 6-1 to book a second-round meeting with Serena Williams.
Madison Keys beat fellow American Sloane Stephens 4-6 6-2 7-5 in a topsy-turvy encounter decided predominantly by unforced errors.
The 2016 Rome finalist Keys lost the first set despite an initial 3-0 lead. In the second set, she stopped Stephens from recovering again and then fought back from a 2-0 deficit in the decider to move into the second round.
There were moments when Stephens was on her knees.
Both Keys and Stephens sported the Nike Summer Victory Polo Dress this Tuesday in Rome.
Seed No.12 Garbine Muguruza needed 66 minutes to dispatch Patricia Maria Tig, who entered the draw when Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova withdrew from singles with an abdominal injury.
In an encounter featuring two of the best-performing singles players of the 2021 season so far, Veronika Kudermetova came back from a set down to eliminate new doubles world No.1 Elise Mertens with whom she won the Istanbul doubles title last month.
Kudermetova’s +9 winners-to-unforced-errors differential was far better than Mertens’ -9, which included nine double faults.
Caroline Garcia, who’s recently made a major career decision to stop working with her father as coach, progressed past Elisabetta Cocciaretto 7-6(8) 6-2.
The brand behind Cocciaretto’s tennis dress is Australian by l’Alpina. Their logo is a kangaroo.
After a rain delay, Angelique Kerber, Jelena Ostapenko and Ajla Tomljanovic wrapped up the first-round action as winners. Their victims were Alize Cornet, Johanna Konta and Marketa Vondrousova, in that order.
Petra Kvitova spotted our Jimmie48 from afar and waved with a smile showing through her mask.
Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty is getting ready for her Wednesday morning opener against Yaroslava Shvedova.
Karolina Pliskova also kicks off her Rome campaign tomorrow, as she enjoyed a first-round bye.
The Czech former world No.1 is accompanied by husband Michal Hrdlicka and coach Sascha Bajin.
Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina and Iga Swiatek were also spotted practicing on Tuesday.
Keep checking back to Women’s Tennis Blog as we continue to bring you exclusive photos from the 2021 Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
