Hsieh Su-wei and Oksana Kalashnikova fell to big guns Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the second round of the women’s doubles at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Wednesday, while Roger Federer put in an encouraging performance in the second round of the men’s singles considering he only decided to play moments before stepping onto the court.
The Taiwanese-Georgian duo battled for 61 minutes against the Swiss-Indian pairing, but fell to a 6-3, 6-3 defeat at the Foro Italico in the Italian capital.
The top seeds saved two of the four break points they faced and converted five of 11, winning 59 of the 103 points contested to advance to the quarter-finals.
Photo: EPA
Hsieh’s defeat meant that Chan Yung-jan was the sole surviving Taiwanese in Rome. Chan and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany, the sixth seeds, were due to take on Romanian duo Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu in the second round of the doubles late yesterday.
In the men’s singles, Federer put his full array of shots on display in a 6-3, 7-5 win over Alexander Zverev.
“I was expecting to lose in straight sets today. That was the mindset going in, so to win in straights is actually a really big surprise to me,” said Federer, who has been having problems with his back. “I played cautious and I only decided after the warmup that I was actually going to play.”
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and seven-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal also advanced in straight sets on the red clay courts at the Foro Italico.
In the women’s singles, Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, fourth seed Victoria Azarenka and Mutua Madrid Open winner Simona Halep each lost.
After withdrawing from Madrid with lower-back pain, Federer looked sharp from the start against world No. 44 Zverev, using his backhand-slice drop-shot especially well.
The 19-year-old Zverev, considered a potential future Grand Slam champion, often found himself running down shots wide in the alleys. At one point, the 1.98m German was pulled so far off the court he ended up in the lap of a line judge — then hugged the official after Federer put away an easy volley.
On the first point of the final game, Federer surprised Zverev by following his second serve to the net and Zverev lost his footing as he attempted to chase down Federer’s volley. Zverev fell to the clay, dirtying his shorts and shirt, and had to go over to his chair to dust himself off.
Federer was next due to meet 13th seed Dominic Thiem, who beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 6-2, but he could not immediately confirm that he would play.
Djokovic beat 35-year-old French qualifier Stephane Robert 7-5, 7-5 as he seeks a third straight title in Rome and fourth overall.
Murray never dropped his serve, hitting seven aces, as he eliminated Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3.
Nadal defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3 and was next due to meet rising Australian Nick Kyrgios, who beat big-serving Milos Raonic 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 on the statue-lined Pietrangeli Court.
Eugenie Bouchard, the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up, beat second seed Kerber 6-1, 5-7, 7-5; Romanian Begu, ranked 35th, defeated Azarenka 6-3, 6-2; and last year’s semi-finalist Daria Gavrilova eliminated Halep 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a match that was temporarily interrupted by rain.
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