Rome, May 11 Katie Boulter suffered an early exit in the second round of the Italian Open women's singles after a 6-4 7-6 (10-8) defeat to Slovakian qualifier Rebecca Sramkova.
Early in the opening set, Boulter--seeded 26th, was broken twice by the 120th-ranked player due to her lack of rhythm. Although the world number one from Britain was able to steal a break back, Sramkova was able to end the first set.
Despite trailing by two breaks early in the second set, Boulter battled back and wasted a chance to tie the match at 5-4. In the tie-break, the 27-year-old saved three match points, and Sramkova won in two hours and seven minutes.
Earlier, American qualifier Katie Volynets was defeated 4-6 6-3 6-2 by world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who rallied from a set down.
In another round, Ons Jabeur, a favourite of the crowd, was defeated by American Sofia Kenin after a fierce battle. In the third set, Kenin rallied from a break down to win 7-5 2-6 6-4. Jamie Murray and Michael Venus defeated Lloyd Glasspool and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the second round of the men's doubles competition.
Zheng Saisai and Wang Xinyu defeated Heather Watson and Xu Yifan 6-3 1-6 10-8 to send them out of the women's doubles tournament in the first round.
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