Italian Open: Bouzkova shocks Gauff to move into fourth round

Czech Marie Bouzkova, the No 27 seed, moved into the fourth round of the Italian Open by defeating American Coco Gauff, the No 6 seed, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at the Foro Italico in Rome.

It is a statement victory for the Czech, who was the heavy underdog against the American No. 2.

Although Gauff has endured some difficult results throughout this year’s clay-court campaign, she was coming off the back of a hugely impressive 59-minute victory in the previous round.

Gauff will now head to Paris for the climax of the European clay season, where she was runner-up last season, and will have to regain her form quickly if she is to repeat last year’s exploits.

She is currently without a full-time coach, following the abrupt departure of Diego Moyano due to personal reasons the month prior to the Italian Open. The 19-year-old- Atlantan was seen practising with Patrick Mouratoglou in Rome this week, although it remains to be seen whether he continues to work with Gauff at Roland-Garros.

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Bouzkova, meanwhile, will face No 11 seed Veronika Kudermetova next.

The Czech won against American Catherine McNally (6-4, 6-3) ahead of her victory.

In the previous round of the Rome tournament, Gauff, ranked No 5, won against Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (6-0, 6-1).

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

• Anna Kalinskaya vs. Elena Rybakina
• Donna Vekic vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Paula Badosa beat Marta Kostyuk (32): 6-4, 6-2
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Madison Keys
• Iga Swiatek (1) beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-2, 6-0
• Daria Kasatkina (8) beat Julia Grabher: 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2)
• Karolina Muchova beat Camila Giorgi: 7-6 (4), 6-2
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Maria Sakkari (9): 7-5, 6-3
• Qinwen Zheng (22) beat Anna Bondar (Q): 7-6 (2), 6-4
• Veronika Kudermetova beat Anastasia Potapova (23): 7-5, 3-6, 6-1
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (12) beat Magda Linette (17): 7-5, 6-4
• Xiyu Wang beat Taylor Townsend (Q): 6-2, 0-6, 7-5
• Anhelina Kalinina (30) beat Sofia Kenin: 6-4, 6-2
• Camila Osorio (Q) beat Caroline Garcia (5): 6-4, 6-4