Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️
Today’s tennis mood: Ready for action; ready for fireworks.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 Today in Rome: The schedule is a little backed up today, thanks to some seriously long matches and uncooperative weather in Rome yesterday. That means some of the matches you may have missed yesterday might be on tap today. But we’re also moving into the second round today, which means several of the top players who received byes in the first round are in action today. More on that below.
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🎾 One to watch: Jelena Ostapenko vs. Amanda Anisimova (2nd round - WTA 1000 - Rome): Watch this one for the competitive drama between two players who wear their hearts on their sleeves. There’s extra intrigue because this is Anisimova’s first and only clay tournament leading into Roland-Garros. And, as we know from Ostapenko’s 2017 Roland-Garros, she can be a tough customer on clay.
The record: The head-to-head record between Amanda Anisimova and Jelena Ostapenko is tied at 1-1. However, they have never faced each other on clay.
On the line: For Anisimova, Rome is her only shot at preparing for Roland-Garros. A first-round exit would be a huge miss. Meanwhile, Ostapenko has a huge opportunity, given that Anisimova hasn’t competed since Miami due to an ongoing wrist injury.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 58% of you called for Daria Kasatkina to defeat Caty McNally. McNally won 6-2, 6-3.)
And that’s game.
