The Internazionali BNL d’Italia witnessed a mixed bag of results for American tennis hopefuls on Sunday. While Danielle Collins and Taylor Fritz emerged victorious, Ben Shelton and Sofia Kenin faced setbacks.
Collins continued her impressive form, dispatching Caroline Garcia in straight sets (6-3, 6-3). The 13th seed capitalized on five of six break points, extending her winning streak against the Frenchwoman to 10-0 in sets. Collins will now face Irina-Camelia Begu in the round of 16, aiming for her first WTA 1000 clay-court quarterfinal.
Fritz also secured a comfortable victory, defeating compatriot Sebastian Korda (6-3, 6-4). The No. 11 seed has now won nine of 11 matches on red dirt this season. He will next face Grigor Dimitrov, who overcame Terence Atmane in straight sets.
However, Shelton’s run in Rome came to an end as he was defeated by Zhang Zhizhen (6-2, 6-4). The Chinese No. 1 advanced to the fourth round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the third time. He will now face Thiago Monteiro in the round of 16.
Kenin, who had upset Ons Jabeur in the previous round, was unable to maintain her momentum. She was edged out by qualifier Rebecca Sramkova in a three-set battle (6-4, 4-6, 6-4).
