French No.1 Caroline Garcia successfully entered the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome by dominating Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto (56th) 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) in the second round on Friday.
Garcia, the last Frenchwoman competing in the Roman tournament, will have a lot to do in the next round, since she will be opposed to the American Danielle Collins, 15th in the world who has already won two titles in 2024.
The Frenchwoman, 23rd in the world, has never beaten in four confrontations played all on hard court her next opponent who has already announced that she will end her career at the end of the 2024 season. The fourth day of the Roman tournament had got off to a bad start for the French. Varvara Gracheva, 88th in the world, was unsurprisingly dominated by the Greek Maria Sakkari, 8th in the world, who won in two sets 6-2, 6-2.
Océane Dodin, eliminated in the 2nd round of qualifying, was not scheduled to play this Friday, but the 73rd in the WTA rankings was drafted in at the last minute with the status of “lucky loser” after the withdrawal of Kazakh Elena Rybakina.
Sick, the title holder and world No.4 left her place against the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (161st) in Dodin, who threw in the towel after eight games while she was trailing 5-3.
