Filipino star Eala and Ostapenko move ahead at Italian Open

Alexandra Eala is up and running at the 2026 Italian Open, beating Magdalena Frech in two hours and seven minutes in their first round meeting.

After storming to a first-set bagel, World number 42 Eala had to go the distance and emerged victorious in the decider, prevailing 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 at the WTA 1000 tennis tournament on Wednesday.

Philippines star Eala lost on her tournament debut in Rome last year against Marta Kostyuk, but there was no such issue this time, with just her third victory of the season’s clay swing. She converted six break points including on the final service of the match from world number 45 Frech of Poland.

Former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko delivered a commanding performance to beat Italy’s Lucrezia Stefanini Stefanini.

Ostapenko converted all six of her break-point opportunities and saved all three against her serve to win 6-0, 6-1 in 54 minutes.

In one of the most anticipated first-round matches, former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari

came from a set and a break down to defeat Austrian qualifier Lilli Tagger 5-7, 6-3, 6-0.

Meanwhile, China’s Zhang Zhizhen missed two match points and suffered a first-round exit, falling to Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Zhang, who entered the main draw using a protected ranking, had won their only previous meeting in 2023. In their latest encounter, Zhang broke in the third game of the opening set and maintained his advantage to take the set 6-4.

In the second set, Zhang broke in the fifth game to move ahead 3-2. Although Altmaier broke back in the following game, Zhang responded immediately with a love break in the seventh game. Zhang then had two match points in the ninth game but failed to convert either before being broken in the 10th as the German forced a tiebreak. Altmaier took control in the tiebreak, winning it 7-3 to level the match. In the deciding set, Zhang double-faulted in the third game to concede an early break. Both players held serve for the remainder of the set, and Altmaier closed it out 6-4 to complete his comeback victory.

Zhang acknowledged after the match that recent results have affected his confidence. “Recently, it’s been quite tough. I haven’t won many matches, and my confidence isn’t very high,” he said. “If I had a bit more confidence, that service game at 5-4 in the second set could have been different.” He added that his short-term goal is “to win a couple of matches in a row and rebuild confidence.” Altmaier will face second seed Alexander Zverev in the second round.

For the first time since January’s Australian Open, Jannik Sinner will be defending rankings points when he competes at his home ATP Masters 1000 event. In 2025, the Italian reached his maiden Rome championship match, meaning he will begin his title bid this year, 590 points down in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

The 24-year-old Sinner will be in a similar situation later this month at Roland Garros, where he also reached the final in 2025 and will therefore be defending 1,300 points. At the same time, his great Lexus ATP Head2Head rival, Carlos Alcaraz, is already guaranteed to drop 3,000 points across both events: The Spaniard will not be able to defend his title at either tournament due to a right wrist injury.

Agencies