The first racket of Latvia and 36th in the world rankings, Alena Ostapenko, confidently started at the prestigious clay tournament in Rome — Internazionali BNL d’Italia (prize fund — €7.2 million), defeating the home player Lucrezia Stefanini in the first round with a score of 6-0, 6-1. The match lasted 56 minutes.
The Rome tournament is a dress rehearsal ahead of the upcoming French Open, or "Roland Garros," another event in the Grand Slam series.
The outcome of the match should not be misleading, as 27-year-old Stefanini is currently ranked only 154th in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, although she was once in the top 100. She participated in Rome on a wild card from the organizers.
In the reported match, Alena Ostapenko served for the match three times, made four double faults, and also committed 15 unforced errors. However, all of this did not affect the outcome of the match. Interestingly, Ostapenko has never defeated her opponents 6-0, 6-0 in the WTA tour.
In the next round, Ostapenko will face the world’s sixth-ranked player — American tennis player Amanda Anisimova. The match will take place the day after tomorrow, May 8.
The second-ranked player from Latvia, Daria Semenistaya, could have also played in the main draw of this tournament in Rome, but she failed to qualify, quickly losing to Katie Volynets from the USA (ranked 104th in the WTA rankings) — 2-6, 0-6. Currently, Daria Semenistaya is ranked 112th in the WTA world rankings.
