Th second round of the Italian Open was completed with some terrific matches, especially in the women’s draw.
Venus Williams (8) started brilliantly against Elena Vesnina, taking the first set 6-2, but the Russian fought back to level at 2-6 6-4.
Vesnina went further, leading with a break in the decider, before Williams brought it back to 4-4.
When Vesnina broke the American serve, she then had the chance to serve for the match. However, the resilient Venus found something from her physical and mental reserves to win the final three games and progress to the third round 6-2 4-6 7-5
Karolina Pliskova (6) was on target to win against Maria Sakkari after leading 6-3, but the Greek player bounced back with a set two victory, also 6-3.
After exchanging two service breaks each in the deciding set, Pliskova led 5-5 and had a number of game points which Sakkari saved.
The shot which appeared to win Pliskova the game was incorrectly called out, and was not overruled by the chair umpire, who made a complete mess of the situation by - one not seeing the obvious winner hit by Pliskova, and two letting the dispute grow way out of hand.
A distraught Pliskova eventually dropped serve and lost the match to a lucky Sakkari 3-6 6-3 7-5.
Sakkari still may have won in a tie breaker, but we will never know.
Garbine Muguruza (3) won the opening set against Dasha Gavrilova 7-5, then imploded in set two, losing it to a feisty Australian 6-2.
A revitalised Spaniard won the first four games of the decider, but lost her way and let Gavrilova back to 4-4.
The Aussie led 5-4, but Muguruza found another gear to win the next two games and serve for the match.
A match point was wasted and Gavrilova seized on the chance given her, breaking serve and forcing a tie break.
Muguruza had another match point in the tie break which went begging and it was Gavrilova who ultimately won the battle 5-7 6-2 7-6(6).
This was a loss that Muguruza somehow grabbed from nowhere, and she will be regretting it for awhile.
For Gavrilova it was a tremendous victory, proving that persistence can overcome all sorts of perilous positions.
There were upsets in the men’s draw:
Fabio Fognini defeated Dominic Thiem (5) 6-4 1-6 6-3
Kei Nishikori defeated Grigor Dimitrov (3) 6-7(4) 7-5 6-4
Albert Ramos-Vinolas defeated John Isner (8) 6-7(5) 7-6(2) 7-6(5)
Benoit Paire defeated Diego Schwartzman (14) 2-6 6-4 6-2
Kyle Edmund defeated Lucas Pouille (16) 6-2 7-6(3)
No such trouble for the top seed Nadal, dropping just the one game in trouncing Damir Dzumhur
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