Italian Open: Wang beats Townsend to reach fourth round

Chinese Xiyu Wang advanced to the fourth round of the Italian Open by edging out American qualifier Taylor Townsend 6-2, 0-6, 7-5 at the Foro Italico in Rome on Saturday.

Wang, ranked No 75, will face the winner of the match between Hungarian qualifier Anna Bondar and Chinese Qinwen Zheng, the No 22 seed, next.

The 22-year-old Chinese won against Italian wildcard Lucrezia Stefanini (7-6 (2), 7-6 (2)) and Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, the No 31 seed (6-4, 7-5) in the previous rounds of the Rome tournament.

Earlier in the tournament, Townsend, ranked No 168, edged out Belgian qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure (4-6, 6-1, 7-5) and beat No 3 seed Jessica Pegula (6-2, 3-6, 6-3).

Rome WTA 1000, other round of 32 results (Foro Italico, clay, USD 3.572.618, most recent results first):

• Julia Grabher vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Karolina Muchova vs. Camila Giorgi
• Paula Badosa vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Elena Rybakina
• Maria Sakkari vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Donna Vekic vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Iga Swiatek vs. Lesia Tsurenko
• Coco Gauff vs. Marie Bouzkova
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Madison Keys
• Anastasia Potapova vs. Veronika Kudermetova: saturday
• Anna Bondar vs. Qinwen Zheng
• Magda Linette vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia: saturday
• Anhelina Kalinina (30) beat Sofia Kenin: 6-4, 6-2
• Camila Osorio (Q) beat Caroline Garcia (5): 6-4, 6-4