Badosa Defeats Jabeur As Big Names Keep Going Down In Italian Open

Ons Jabeur became the third of the top four seeds to suffer an early exit at the Rome Masters as she lost 6-1 6-4 to Paula Badosa on her return from injury. The Tunisian followed in the footsteps of fellow big names Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula by going out early. Maria Sakkari made it safely through, but Martina Trevisan was beaten on home turf.

Another big name fell early at the Italian Open as Ons Jabeur’s return from injury ended in a straight-sets defeat to Paula Badosa, but Maria Sakkari safely progressed.

The Tunisian’s exit means that three of the top four seeds have failed to make it to the last 32, after Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula also suffered shock exits.

Badosa applied pressure on Jabeur’s serve throughout, taking five of nine break points to clinch a 6-1 6-4 victory in 70 minutes.

Jabeur matched her opponent’s tally of three aces, and hit 21 winners to Badosa’s 15 but ended with two more unforced errors as her Rome title bid fell apart at the first hurdle.

“It was a really tough match, I really respect her,” Badosa said.

“We know each other a lot so I was aware of the drop shots. I’m really happy with my performance.”

The match marked Jabeur’s first competitive appearance since retiring from Stuttgart in April with a calf injury.

For Badosa, it was an encouraging sign as she notched her second win over a top-10 player in the space of two tournaments after knocking out Coco Gauff on her run to the last 16 of the Madrid Open.

The world no. 35 will next face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the 32nd seed, who recorded a 6-0 6-4 win over American Claire Liu.

Ninth seed Sakkari is also safely through to the last 32 after earning a 6-1 6-3 win over Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

But several more seeded players fell on Friday, with Jil Teichmann (26) losing to Julia Grabher in three sets and 18th-seeded home favourite Martina Trevisan suffering the same fate against Karolina Muchova.

Liudmila Samsonova made it through with a 6-3 6-3 win over Anett Kontaveit to set up a clash against Donna Vekic, who came from a set behind to defeat Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

There were no concerns for top seed Iga Swiatek, who earned a crushing double bagel victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to kick off her title defence in style.