Italian Open: Shocks continue in Rome as Coco Gauff and Maria Sakkari suffer early exits, Victoria Azarenka withdraws

Coco Gauff and Maria Sakkari were the latest big names to fall in the early rounds of the Italian Open, while Victoria Azarenka was forced to withdraw with injury.

Only three of the top 10 seeds are left standing after the first three rounds of action in Rome: defending champion Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Daria Kasatkina.

Sixth seed Gauff was upset by No.27-ranked Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, who earned a 4-6 6-2 6-2 comeback win in a rain-delayed match to reach the last 16.

It was Bouzkova’s first career win over a top-5 player – Gauff is the world No. 4 – on clay, and earned her a clash with Veronika Kudermetova.

“Even after the first set, I just kept on fighting, and I kind of knew that I had to elevate my game to get the win today, and at least stay in the match,” Bouzkova said.

“I think I did that pretty well, and then my service games started to work, and I just started to feel really comfortable on the court.

“I love to play here. I think in Europe, it might be my favourite tournament. I didn’t play here last year, so I was really looking forward to playing here. I like the conditions and I like the crowd here, it gives me so much energy.”

Sakkari was another big name to bow out on Sunday as the Greek No. 9 seed fell to a 7-5 6-3 defeat against Marketa Vondrousova.

The 2020 Rome semi-finalist is on a hot streak after beating 24th seed Bianca Andreescu in the last round, and next up she will face Wimbledon champion Rybakina.

Azarenka was set to face Madison Keys, but the American was handed a walkover after the 14th seed was forced to withdraw with a leg injury.

There was another injury-enforced retirement when Anna Kalinskaya pulled out of her match with Rybakina, with the seventh seed leading 4-3 at the time.

Eighth seed Kasatkina avoided the same fate of her fellow top-10 players by edging out Julia Grabher in an epic three-setter lasting three hours and 19 minutes.

Jelena Ostapenko set up a last-16 clash with Kasatkina by beating 10th seed Barbora Krejcikova 7-6(2) 6-0, while Paula Badosa continued her strong recent form with a 6-4 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk.

Next up Badosa will face Karolina Muchova, who took down a second home favourite in a row, backing up her win over Martina Trevisan with a straight-sets victory against Camila Giorgi.

– – –