Quick and clear: Six Czech representatives at the launch event in Rome. Who shone with unexpected twists and turns?

The French Open dress rehearsal is here. The Italian Open, which belongs to the elite 1,000 category, has attracted almost the entire world’s top men and women. On Tuesday, the Italian capital also hosted six Czech representatives.

Sara Beljek

The seventeen-year-old Czech has so far been seen mainly in lower category tournaments. She has appeared three times in qualifying at Grand Slam events and twice made it through to the main competition. She had a similar goal this week at the Rome event. On Monday, she handled Australia’s Birello handily.

Tuesday brought a crucial qualifying match with Japan’s Hibin. The more experienced Japanese was not able to keep up with the onset of our tennis player, but after losing a set she went on a tear in the second set. Bejlek managed to even the pace and was only a tiebreak away from advancing. It didn’t happen. The Japanese won the tiebreak 7::1 and the third set smoothly 6::2 and she will taste the atmosphere of the main competition in Rome.

Tereza Martincova

She also had to start her tournament journey in Rome in the qualification. She also started against an Australian. Monday brought her two tiebreak victories and progression over Jaimee Fourlis. Tuesday, a duel with Croatia’s Konjuh.

After sets 6::4, 2::6, the third set had to be decided in this match as well. The opening games were long and even. The Czech won the fifth for herself smoothly on her serve at 3::2, which was quite possibly the momentum of the match. In a few moments, she scored a point against her opponent and after less than two hours of play, her serve sealed her progress further with a 6: 3 win in the third set.

Barbora Strýcová

The experienced tennis player returns to the circuit after the birth of her first child. In Madrid, she lost in the first round to Italy’s Cocciaretta. Tuesday’s opponent, Maryna Zanevskaya, a Belgian of Ukrainian origin, was weaker on paper.

The Czech confirmed the forecasts from the start and flew through the first set victoriously in half an hour. She won it 6::1. In the second, however, she struggled on her serve, winning only one game in which she served, and the 3::6 result meant that a deciding set was necessary.

There, things looked bad for Strycova, but she managed to turn the match around from 0::2. In the second round she will play against Sakkari of Greece, the tournament’s number nine.

Markéta Vondroušová

The native of Sokolov is coming back from a wrist injury. At two previous WTA 1000s (Indian Wells, Miami) this year she finished in the eighth round. The second round in Madrid was therefore perhaps a bit of a step backwards.

The fate in Rome was quite generous to the Czech. Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi has a match record of 4:10 this year and has so far only beaten Sofia Steur, ranked sixth in the world, on clay.

Markéta Vondroušová dominated the match from the start. In 26 minutes she had the first set in her pocket without losing a game. When she led 2:0 in the second set, everything seemed to be decided. Wrong. Then came a big struggle with her own serve, seven double faults and the loss of the second set at 4::6.

A bad stretch of the match, but the 23 year old Czech managed to put it behind her, improve her serve and take the third set and thus the whole match. After 6::0, 4::6, 6::2 sets, Vondrousova advances to the second round of the Italian Open.

Linda Noskova

Another promising young player started this year with a very good performance. She played in the final of Adelaide, the quarterfinals in Lyon and the third round in Indian Wells. However, not all of the aforementioned events are on clay. How the Vsetín native will handle the transition to the slowest surface is a bit of a question. Last year at the French Open she successfully qualified and lost in the first round.

On Tuesday, Linda Noskova faces Shelby Rogers, the world number 33. The loss of the 18-year-old Moravian player’s very first serve proved to be decisive for the first set. The set continued without a break and the more experienced American won it 6::4.

The second set brought an early break for Noskova and this was a very important step given the quality of the young tennis player’s serve. Noskova was winning 80% of the balls after her first serve at that moment. The set continued in this vein and came to a 6: 1 victory.

Tuesday was rich in twists and turns and a very pleasant one for our colours came in Linda Noskova’s match. At 1::4 in the deciding set, you probably wouldn’t bet on her. But from that moment on our tennis player won five games in a row, won 6::4 and celebrated her advancement to the second round.

Vít Kopřiva

Among men, Czech tennis had only one certain representative at the Italian Open. Vít Kopřiva was able to double this figure with his match in the qualification final. At the last Masters in Madrid, Russian Roman Safiulin made it through from the qualification round to the third round and the Czech player was definitely not the favourite before the match.

The first set went as expected, with the Russian winning it 6:2. The Czech tennis player picked up in the second set, coming back into the match from 0:2 down and eventually taking the second set to a shortened game. However, the Russian won it convincingly 7::3. The decisive statistic was unforced errors, Vít Kopřiva made 21 in the match, almost twice as many as his opponent.

Other matches

Sharif of Egypt,the hero of the Madrid event , did not repeat her performance in Rome. She fell short against Russia’s Blinkova and can now turn her eyes further towards the French Open.

We praised the American Parks’ serve here a while ago. She showed the opposite on her serve on Tuesday, managing 11 double faults in 7 games against Estonia’s Kontaveit. Anett Kontaveit advanced smoothly to the second round where her last three appearances in Rome ended.

Source: ATP, WTA