Hailey Baptiste had a forgettable day in the R32 of the Italian Open against the world number 10 Elina Svitolina. The latter made light work of the American and breezed into the R16 with a 6-1, 6-2  victory. Svitolina broke her opponent’s serve four times and held her own to record a dominant victory. However, it was a casual rally that turned into a noteworthy incident in the first set as Baptiste accidentally smacked her rival on the court with a forehand.

The moment came during the first set when Svitolina came towards the net to return Baptiste’s drop shot. In reply, the latter hit a forehand straight at the Ukrainian, and it ended up hitting her face. Baptiste appeared to be very concerned and even apologized to her opponent, but Svitolina shrugged off any injury concerns thanks to her quick reflexes as she managed to react at the right time and resumed the game. The crowd applauded the pair for their spirit of the game and determination.

Baptiste, who arrived at the Italian Open after an impressive semifinal appearance in Madrid, proved to be no match for Svitolina. The Ukrainian just took 67 minutes to wrap up the match as she won 61 points out of 95. She especially dominated when it came to the second serve, winning 87% of the points. A dominant performance helped Svitolina avenge her third-round exit to Baptiste in the Miami Open a couple of months ago.

Svitolina had come into this match after defeating Noemi Basiletti 6-1, 6-3 in the R64. After a first-round elimination at the Madrid Masters, she needed momentum at the Italian Open, with this being her final preparation before Roland Garros. Having previously won the Italian Open title in 2017 and 2018, she aims for a third title.

On the other hand, it was agony for Baptiste, who had put in a solid performance in her first-round match against Simona Waltert and had won 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. She had seen a surge in the rankings following her impressive run at the Spanish capital that included a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 victory over Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. She had jumped seven places to reach the 25th position. However, the early exit in Rome could see her rankings plummet.

A lights-out incident marred her clash with Waltert, but Baptiste managed to emerge victorious. But in the next round against Svitolina, her accidental forehand hit was the only talking point as her journey came to an end.

One of the reasons behind Baptiste’s defeat was her failure to capitalize on the break points that she got. She had five chances to break Svitolina’s serve, but blew them all away. The American also had no answer to her opponent’s barrage of winners and found it very hard to win points on a bounce.

The win sees Svitolina improve her win-loss record to 23-7 for the season and take a 2-1 lead over Baptiste in the H2H record. Coincidentally, her previous win in the matchup had also come in the R32 of the Italian Open last year. The veteran had recorded a hard-fough 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory on that occasion.

Having reached the R16, Svitolina is now set to take on a 20-year-old, who has reached the stage after defeating Madison Keys in the previous round.

Elina Svitolina set to meet Nikola Bartunkova at the Italian Open

Svitolina is going to lock horns against rising star Nikola Bartunkova in the last 16 of the tournament. This will be the first time that the two will be facing each other in a tour-level match so no one really knows what to expect.

While Svitolina may look as the clear favorite on paper, Bartunkova cannot be underestimated by any means. The Czech has been on a rapid rise as of late. She wasn’t even ranked in the top 500 until last year, but now she stands on No. 94. Despite being defeated by Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 4-6, 2-6 in the qualifiers, Bartunkova came into the main draw as a lucky loser after Victoria Mboko’s withdrawal from the tournament due to an illness.

She made sure to capitalize on this opportunity and knocked out Tyra Grant 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round. The 20-year-old then racked up a monumental 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Keys. Bartunkova has now won two matches against top 20 opponents, having previously defeated Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open earlier this year.

Will Bartunkova continue her brilliant run of form in Rome, or will Svitolina prove to be too good for the young Czech? Drop your predictions in the comments!