Italian Open 2020: Azarenka, Halep, Pliskova, Mertens cruise through quarters as Konta, Blinkova crashes out

Italian Open 2020: Azarenka, Halep, Pliskova, Mertens cruise through quarters as Konta, Blinkova crashes out

halep Pliskova Azarenka

The Italian Open 2020 Women’s singles matches on Day 5 of the tour saw the seeds cruising through easily. The match that caught everyone’s attention was Victoria Azarenka vs Daria Kasatkina.

Other seeds that prevailed included Simona Halep, Gabrine Muguruza, Elsie Mertens and Karolina Pliskova. The Kazakh player Yulia Putintseva in through to the next round too.

Victoria Azarenka melts hearts with her kindness

Victoria Azarenka was in for a tough battle against Daria Kasatkina. The qualifier Kasatkina was showcasing phenomenal tennis as she kept the US Open runner up on her toes. At 6-6 a terrible fall made the young player concede the match. Playing extremely well this week and competing against a top player, Kasatkina was in tears.

FS Video

Kasatkina had to concede at the tie break of the opening set. Azarenka acted like a champion as she went up to console her opponent. She has booked a place in the last eight of the tour. Vika has made a quick shift from hard court to clay which is commendable.

Top seeds have it easy on Day 5

Simona Halep

Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova, the first and second seed, prevailed in easy two sets against respective opponents. Simona Halep played Dayana Yastremska. The latter had a tough couple of rounds. As she reached an encounter with Halep, she had to endure three-setters against both her previous opponents. Halep won 7-5, 6-4 against the young player.

Karolina Pliskova won against Anna Blinkova. The duo met for the second time and the clash had the same winner. However, Anna should be happy to have improved her scoreline against the second seed at the tour. Pliskova won 6-4, 6-3 against the qualifier.

When two seeds played, Gabrine Muguruza and Johanna Konta, the Italian courts saw some great rallies and baseline hitting. Only one seed could prevail. Muguruza defeated Konta 6-4, 6-1. This was their first encounter on clay and the Spaniard showed her dominance on the surface.

The tenth seed failed to beat young Kazakh Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 6-7(3), 3-6. She won the first set but Putintseva came back to defeat her in the next two. Putintseva is up against Simona Halep in the next round.

Also Read: Italian Open 2020: Novak, Rafa, Shapovalov, Dimitrov move ahead as Cilic succumbs