What a difference trust and belief in one’s own means make! Martina Trevisan proceeds like a steamroller who arrives at the third round of Roland Garros, second Slam of 2022, in progress on the Parisian red clay.
The 28-year-old left-handed from Florencen.59 WTA (“best ranking”), fresh from the first WTA title won in Rabat just on the eve of the French Grand Slam, after having “paved” in the first round the British Harriet Dart, n.111 of the ranking, beat 63 62, in an hour and 18 minutes of the game, the Polish Magda Linetten.52 WTA, at the eighth Roland Garros (two third rounds for her, 2017 and 2021), which at the debut had surprisingly eliminated the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, n.6 of the ranking and seeding.
There was no precedent between the blue and the 30-year-old from Poznan, who took the field with her right thigh conspicuously bandaged. After a couple of studio games Martina broke the hesitation by exploiting the first ball-break (2-1) and then, after having in turn canceled one, confirmed the advantage by climbing 3-1. An increasingly determined Trevisan also took a second break (5-2) but returned it immediately, giving up the bar for the first time (5-3). In the ninth game, however, at the fifth opportunity she secured the first set 6-3 thanks to a slap in the forehand sent to the stands by the Pole.
Linette reacted by taking a break advantage immediately at the start of the second set (1-0) but Trevisan recovered immediately (1-1). In the fourth game with a sprint recovery, the Tuscan left-handed resumed a drop-shot playing a counter-damped that gave her the point and the break (3-1) then confirmed with the fourth game won consecutively (4-1). The Pole stopped the bleeding but in the eighth game Martina got the match point with a fabulous lob and collected 6-2 on Linette’s mistake.
For the Tuscan tennis player, in a positive streak of 7 matches (and only one set left on the street), it is the third participation in the French Slam where in 2020 she reached, starting from the qualifiers, a splendid quarter-final, stopped only by the future winner of the tournament, the Polish Swiatek: Friday in the third round he will have to contend with the Australian Daria Gavrilova Saville, 127 WTA, on the scoreboard thanks to a wild card, at the seventh appearance in the Parisian main draw where she had come so far also in 2018. There are no precedents between Trevisan and the 28-year-old of Russian origin (she was born in Moscow).
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