“Camila Giorgi Enjoys Success at Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Reaches Third Round”

Smiling and relaxed, Camila Giorgi is enjoying this edition of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, having reached the third round for the first time. The 31-year-old from Macerata (n.37 WTA), after coming from behind the Dutch Rus (n.107 WTA), coming from the qualifiers – dispelling the worries about the condition of her right knee which had forced her to retire in Madrid – he adjusted for 64 62in just under an hour and a half of playing, Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (WTA No. 22), 15th seed.

“I’m very happy because last time I lost against her (last year in St. Petersburg; ed.). And I’m very satisfied with the tennis I’m playing since after Madrid I haven’t been able to train as I would have liked due to the knee problem, which still needs to be kept under control. I love playing in Rome: it’s a beautiful city and I’d like to live there one day. I took a scooter ride through the center, among the monuments and it was wonderful. And then I like people, you can talk to everyone, and it’s all very simple. In the past I didn’t really like playing on clay, then I realized that I could do it exactly like on hard courts”.

The match. The blue was ahead 2-1 in the balance of the precedents with the 28-year-old from Chelyabinsk but the two had always faced each other on the fast indoors. Camila immediately takes a lead break at the start of first set (2-0) but just as quickly returns it (2-2). You fight in every game: Giorgi doesn’t take advantage of a break point in the sixth, Alexandrova one in the seventh. In the tenth game, the Marches player finds a couple of answers from hers, gets two chances to close and does so immediately by opening the field and then closing with the forehand (6-4).

Camila’s positive mood continues in the second fraction where he breaks the Russian serve again, then confirming the advantage (3-0) and bringing the series of consecutive games won to five. Alexandrova stops the bleeding (3-1), Giorgi cancels with determination a chance for the counter-break in the fifth game (4-1) and in the eighth he gets two match-points but doesn’t exploit them, ditto for the third but on the fourth the forehand of the Russian ends out (6-2). For Camila 20 winners against 22 free (11 against 19 the balance of her opponent).

In the third round Giorgi will have to deal with the Czech Karolina Muchova (n.52) WTA, which eliminated Martina Trevisan, n.18 in the ranking and seeding, after canceling a match-point. The 26-year-old from Olomuc was the only previous match with the Marches, played in the second round of Wimbledon in 2021. “I know her and I remember that match where I lost in three sets. But this will be a different game, not just on the surface. I hope I can play a solid match, especially with a header,” she said. Camila wants to still enjoy the stage of the Foro Italico.