Author: Barkha Roy
Former women’s world number two Anett Kontaveit returned from a two-month injury break by beating Alycia Parks by an identical 6-1, 6-1 margin in the opening round of the Rome Masters. Meanwhile, Barbora Strycova recorded her first singles win in almost three years after a hard-fought 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Maryna Zanevzka.
While Estonia’s Kontaveit has been battling a degenerative back injury since last fall and took a break at the beginning of February to focus on resolving the problem, Strycova returned to the recently concluded Madrid Open after taking a two-year maternity break.
Despite recently falling to 82nd in the rankings, Kontaveit reached the 2nd highest position of her career last season, before suffering a second round defeat to Serena Williams at the US Open. After that, Kontaveit reached the final of her hometown tournament in Tallinn, but her back injury worsened significantly, preventing her from winning consecutive matches on the Hologic WTA Tour ever since. After withdrawing in the last 16 against Shelby Rogers at the Abu Dhabi event earlier this year, Kontaveit decided she’d had enough and went to rehabilitate.
In 2021, Kontaveit had a breakthrough season in which she led the tour in wins, securing four titles and earning a place in her first WTA Finals, where she reached the final match. All the while, she set new records for Estonian tennis, even taking second place the following season. In the second round, Kontaveit will play Liudmila Samsonova, the 16th seed. The latter was put straight into the second round thanks to being a seeded player.
Strycova faced Zanevska, ranked number 77, and showed her experience and skill, proving that she is not “rusty” after the break. She dominated the first set, leading 4-0, but Zanevska managed to raise her level and fight back. In the third set, Strycova was trailing by a break, but made an impressive comeback by winning four games in a row, regaining control of the match. In the second round, 37-year-old Strycova will play Maria Sakkari, the number 9 seed.
In the men’s event, Brazil’s Felipe Alves lost to Fabian Marozsan 7-5, 6-1 in straight sets in the qualifying round.