THE WTA Tour has continued chugging along this week, with the Round of 32 wrapping up in both Palermo, Italy and Gdynia, Poland.

In Palermo, one of two Italians reigned supreme on home soil with wildcard Lucia Bronzetti pulling off an impressive 6-4 6-1 victory over fifth seed Hungarian Viktoriya Tomova, as her compatriot Lucrezia Stefanini was not quite as lucky, going down to seventh seed Astra Sharma in just over two hours, stealing the second set off the Australian. Top seed Danielle Collins was successful with a 7-5 6-3 victory over German Katharina Gerlach as fourth seed wildcard Zhang Shuai overcame Spaniard Cristina Bucsa.

Serbian Olga Danilovic required three sets, but eventually overcame eighth seed Russian Kamilla Rakhimova, coming from behind to steal a 3-6 6-2 6-2 victory. In the unseeded matches, American Francesca Di Lorenzo earned a Round of 16 berth with a win over another Russian in Valeria Savinykh, as Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Katarina Zavatska claimed respective one hour and 19-minute wins over Mandy Minella and Lizette Cabrera.

In Poland, just one of three hometown hopefuls earned a win in a competitive day on the clay, with Katarzyna Kawa claiming a topsy-turvy 6-3 1-6 6-2 victory over Croatian Tereza Mrdeza as compatriots Weronika Baszak and Magdalena Frech both fell in three sets to sixth seed Aliaksandra Sasnovich and ninth seed Nuria Parrizas Diaz, respectively. Romanian third seed Irina-Camelia Begu had no issue commanding control in her own outing, downing Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure 6-1 6-2 in by far the quickest win of the day, in one hour and 12 minutes. The only unsuccessful seed of the day was Belarusian Olga Govortsova, who claimed a speedy first set before German Tamara Korpatsch fired up to claim a huge 1-6 7-5 7-5 result in just under three hours on court.

The remaining three winners saw Georgian Ekaterine Gorgodze and American Varvara Lapchenko claim respective three-set wins over Russians Anastasia Zakharova and Marina Melnikova – with the latter pushing out to a huge three-hour and eight minutes – as the remaining Russian in Amina Anshba overcame Frenchwoman Harmony Tan 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 58 minutes.

PALERMO LADIES OPEN ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[1] Danielle Collins (USA) defeated Katharina Gerlach (GER) 7-5 6-3
[4] Zhang Shuai (CHN) defeated Cristina Bucsa (ESP) 7-5 6-3
Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) defeated [5] Viktoriya Tomova (HUN) 6-4 6-1
[7] Astra Sharma (AUS) defeated Lucrezia Stefanini (ITA) 6-4 1-6 6-3
Olga Danilovic (SRB) defeated [8] Kamilla Rakhimova (RUS) 3-6 6-2 6-2
Francesca Di Lorenzo (USA) defeated Valeria Savinykh (RUS) 7-5 6-3
Elena-Gabriela Ruse (ROU) defeated Mandy Minella (LUX) 6-3 6-1
Katarina Zavatska (UKR) defeated Lizette Cabrera (AUS) 6-2 6-3

BNP PARIBAS POLAND OPEN ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[3] Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) defeated Ysaline Bonaventure (BEL) 6-1 6-2
[6] Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) defeated Weronika Baszak (POL) 3-6 6-1 6-2
[9] Nuria Parrizas Diaz (ESP) defeated Magdalena Frech (POL) 6-3 2-6 6-4
Tamara Korpatsch (GER) defeated [11] Olga Govortsova (BLR) 1-6 7-5 7-5
Katarzyna Kawa (POL) defeated Tereza Mrdeza (CRO) 6-3 1-6 6-2
Ekaterine Gorgodze (GEO) defeated Anastasia Zakharova (RUS)  6-7 6-3 6-1
Varvara Lepchenko (USA) defeated Marina Melnikova (RUS) 4-6 7-6 6-3
Amina Anshba (RUS) defeated Harmony Tan (FRA) 6-4 6-2

Picture credit: Sportskeeda