Second seed Elena Rybakina overpowered Filipino rising star Alex Eala 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Sunday to reach the round of 16. Rybakina is the only player to have reached the Round of 16 at the all six WTA-1000 events this season.
The Kazakh, world No. 2, never let the unseeded Eala settle into the rallies. The 20-year-old, ranked No. 42 and playing only her second WTA 1000 third round on clay, could not find a way through the Rybakina serve in the opening set and was broken twice in the second.
Rybakina will face the winner of Laura Siegemund and Jaqueline Cristian for a place in the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere on a busy day at the Foro Italico, the upset of the afternoon belonged to Czech lucky loser Nikola Bartunková, who took the opening set, dropped the second to love, and recovered to defeat No. 17 seed Madison Keys 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Bartunková becomes the first lucky loser to reach the women’s singles fourth round in Rome since 2013.
Two-time Rome champion Elina Svitolina, the No. 7 seed, eased past Hailey Baptiste in straight sets in just over an hour (6-1, 6-2). No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula handed Swiss qualifier Rebeka Masarova a 6-0, 6-0 lesson. Naomi Osaka brushed Diana Shnaider aside 6-1, 6-2, and Anastasia Potapova – a Madrid semi-finalist last week and no real outsider despite the seeding gap – saw off No. 20 seed Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 6-2.