Top seeds Sabalenka and Pegula ousted in an early round of the Italian Open

The Italian Open saw two of the world’s top three players Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula knocked out in the second round by players ranked outside the top 100 on Thursday.

Sofia Kenin from the US ranked 134, caused an upset by beating Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who is the Australian Open champion and currently ranked world number two, in straight sets 7-6 (7-4), 6-2

. In another surprise defeat, third-seeded Jessica Pegula lost 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to fellow American Taylor Townsend, who is currently ranked 168 in the world.

However, Americans Coco Gauff and Victoria Azarenka managed to progress to the next round. Gauff eased to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, dropping just one game in the match.

Meanwhile, Azarenka, currently ranked world number 17, earned a 6-4, 6-3 win against American Sloane Stephens, who won in Saint-Malo last week.

Sabalenka had been in great form, having reached the final of her last two tournaments, including winning the Madrid Open last week, where she defeated world number one, Iga Swiatek.

However, she was unable to continue her winning streak as she was beaten by Kenin, who has slipped down the rankings since her 2020 Australian Open victory.

Kenin’s win over Sabalenka was also her first victory against a top-10 player since she beat Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2020 on her way to winning her first and only Grand Slam title.