The Italian Open 2021 in the month of May

[Alexandoy]

The draw of the Italian Open 2021 shows familiar names. For the men’s singles, the top see is Novak Djokovic followed by Rafael Nadal, Russian Daniil Medvedev and Austrian Dominic Thiem.


In the women’s singles world #1 Ashleigh Barty is the top seed followed by Naomi Osaka, Simona Halep and Sofia Kenin respectively. The games has started although the top seeds have a bye and will be playing in the 2nd round of the tournament proper.

 

[Alexandoy]

In the round of 32 top seed Ashleigh Barty will be tested by Yaroslava Shvedova while 2nd seed Naomi Osaka will face giant-killer Jessica Pegula. Seed #3 Simona Halep will meet Angelique Kerber and 4th seed Sofia Kenin will play Barbora Krejcikova. It is expected that the top seeds will breeze past their opponents.

 

[Alexandoy]

The unexpected happened in the 2nd round of the Italian Open 2021. In the women’s singles the 3 top seeds fell one by one. Seed #2 Naomi Osaka bowed to Jessica Pegula 7-6, 6-2 whnile #3 seed Simona Halep retired due to calf injury. Halep was leading by 1 set when the play was stopped. Seed #4 Sofia Kenin failed against Barbora Krejcikova 1-6, 4-6. Top seed Ashleigh Barty was lucky to overpower Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 6-1. Another casualty is Serena Williams who was defeated by Nadia Podoroska in a tight 2 sets of 7-6, 7-5.

 

[Alexandoy]

The quarterfinals for the women’s singles are now set….
1) Top seed Ashleigh Barty vs teenage sensation Coco Gauff
2) #5 seed Elina Svitolina vs French Open champion Iga Swiatek
3) #9 seed Karolina Pliskova vs Jelena Ostapenko
4) Petra Martic vs Jessica Pegula who eliminated #2 seed Naomi Osaka

In the men’s single top seed Novak Jokovic and 2nd seed Rafael Nadal are entered in the quarterfinals but #4 seed Dominic Thiem was ousted by Lorenzo Sonego.

 

[Alexandoy]

Top seed Ashleigh Barty had an arm injury that she retired after leading Coco Gauff 6-4, 2-1. The lucky teenager goes to the semi-finals against the winner of the quarterfinals match between Iga Swiatek and Elina Svitolina. The other semi-final match is between Karoline Pliskova and Petra Martic.
In the men’s singles, the quarterfinals match where Stefano Tsitsipas was leading top seed Novak Djokovic 6-4, 2-1 was suspended due to rains. Rafael Nadal will play Reilly Opelka in the first semis match.

 

[Alexandoy]

Polish Iga Swiatek prevailed over unseeded Coco Gauff in their semifinal match to enter the finals against Karolina Pliskova who defeated Petra Martic.


In the men’s singles the top 2 seeds will fight it out in the finals after beating their semin-final opponents. It will be seed #1 Novak Djokovic versus #2 seed Rafael Nadal.

 

[Alexandoy]

The finals between Rafael Nadal and top seed Novak Djokovic was a cliffhanger. At the start of the 3rd set with both players having 1 set each it was a toe-to-toe until Nadal was able to be ahead by 2 games and has maintained it to win with the last set of 6-3.


In the women’s singles it was a debacle for the former world #1 Karolina Pliskova. She seemed to have surrendered to Polish teenager Iga Swiatek who defeated Pliskova in 2 sets of 6-0, 6-0. It was a rousing victory for Swiatek who enters the top 10 in the world ranking.