ELISABETTA Cocciaretto led the Italian charge on day one of the Palermo Ladies Open with a strong upset of Polona Hercog of Slovenia. The 45th ranked Slovenian is a decade older than the teenager, and had easily accounted for her three years ago with a 6-2 6-0 thrashing when Cocciaretto was just 16-years-old. A lot has changed since then, and whilst Cocciaretto is still ranked outside the top 150, she is far stronger with more weapons than back then. Her 7-6 6-3 triumph over Hercog was the first win top 50 scalp of her career, with her previous best win over the 122nd ranked Francesco Di Lorenzo earlier this year.

The clay court up and comer has made just over $122,000 USD in her time thus far compared to almost $4 million USD prize money for her opponent, but their relative success and experience mattered little with the home crowd behind her. Cocciaretto notched up a dominance rating of 1.35, which was ultra impressive considering her opponent’s ability. Her first serve percentage – 62.3 per cent – was the highest it had been since she was smashed off the court by world number 18, Angelique Kerber back at the Australian Open.

Cocciaretto’s victory took an hour and 53 minutes after battling her way to a first set tiebreak win, then having another crucial break in the second to enjoy her most satisfying victory thus far. Her first and second serve point win percentages were terrific with 65.1 and 57.7 respectively. She does not have time to rest on her laurels though, as she takes on a red-hot Donna Vekic in the second round. Vekic needed just 75 minutes to storm past Dutchwoman, Arantxa Rus 6-1 6-2 to book a spot in the second round. The sixth seed served won an elite 76.7 per cent of her first serve points, notching up four aces, but also four double faults in the process. Critically the Croatian won a dominant 12 of 15 points off Rus’ second serve to hammer home her strength upon return.

Vekic is a really well balanced player, able to win points off her serve as she did in her first round match, but also allows her serve to be erratic at times too. Her forehand is a weapon, hitting 52 per cent of her winners off it, though her backhand can be a weakness at times. If Cocciaretto can weather the Vekic serve – where the Croatian tends to serve wide off her first serve the majority of the time and then predominantly to the body on the second serve – it will go a long way to causing an upset. The sixth seed does not mind a rally though, and can get stronger as the rally goes on, so the Italian could take her chances when they come and put Vekic on the back foot.

Palermo was not immune from some strange results, with eighth seed Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova dropping the first set against Kristina Mladenovic before coming back and destroying her opponent in three sets. The match lasted more than two hours, but after losing seven games in the first set, Alexandrova only dropped one more to the Frenchwoman to triumph 5-7 6-0 6-1. Also joining her compatriot Cocciaretto in the second round, Sara Errani knocked off Romanian Sonia Cirstea 7-5 1-6 6-4, while Laura Siegemund won in straight sets over Irina Camelia Begu.