Italian Sara Errani, current world number 167 and former number 5, qualified for the quarterfinals this Wednesday at the Palermo Ladies Open After coming back in more than two hours of play against the Czech Kristina Pliskova and chained her 180th victory on clay, a record among active players.
The day of the Palermo club (Sicily, south) also saw the triumphs of the French Fiona Ferro at the expense of Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, eighth seed, and Elisabetta Cocciaretto against Croatian Donna Vekic, sixth seed.
After a battle of two hours and four minutes, Errani managed to come back and win 3-6, 6-4 and 6-3 over Kristina Pliskova (n.69), sister of Karolina Pliskova, which allowed her to add her 180th victory on clay, something that no active player has yet achieved.
It took all his mental strength Errani, twice champion in Palermo (2008 and 2012), to recover after losing the first set 3-6, with a tremendous start in which he suffered thirteen points in a row.
But his reaction was forceful and, after winning the second set without conceding breaking chances, he sentenced the duel 6-3 in a decisive set, without being off-center by the rain, which forced the match to stop for about fifteen minutes.
Her rival will be the talented French Fiona Ferro, who reached the second round at the Australian Open this year and the round of 16 in St. Petersburg, on Wednesday sealed the second victory of his career against rivals in the top 30 of the world rankings.
Against Alexandrova, seeded number 8 and champion this year in Shenzhen, Ferro sealed the victory 7-5 and 6-2 in one hour and 51 minutes, in a match in which he managed to overcome a delicate start, in which he gave up his serve in the first game and was behind 0-2.
The 23-year-old French player achieved her second consecutive quarter-final on the clay of Palermo and will now have two days off before looking for a new surprise against Errani.
Another surprise was given by the Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who beat Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-4, number 24 in the ranking. In the quarterfinals, she will face the winner of the eighth between Estonian Anett Kontaveit and German Laura Siegemund.
The Belarusian Sasnovich continues to grow, number 118 in the world ranking and former number 30, who has already accumulated five matches in the Palermo tournament. She overcame three qualifying rounds, the last one at the expense of the Spanish Laura Arruabarrena, and struck down the Belgian Elise Mertens, fifth favorite on Tuesday.
This Wednesday she overwhelmingly beat the Italian Jasmine Paolini (6-0 and 6-2) and reached a quarter-final more than a year after the last time, which went back to the Sydney 2019 tournament, when she was a semifinalist after starting for the qualifying round.
In the central court of the Palermo club, in which 350 people were allowed access with strict rules of distancingSasnovich only conceded fourteen points in the first quarter to Paolini (6-0) and sentenced the duel with a 6-2 in just 72 minutes.
Your quarter-final can be demanding, Well, she will face the Croatian Petra Martic, number 15 in the WTA ranking and first favorite, if she defeats the Russian Liudmila Samsonova this Thursday, planet number 117.