Gauff, Opelka, Pegula into Rome Quarterfinals

The Americans are having their best week of the clay-court season so far at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia. Coco Gauff, Reilly Opelka and Jessica Pegula have all reached the quarterfinals of the combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000-level event, each scoring upset victories along the way.

Gauff has beaten two seeds so far this week, No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari and No. 7 seed Aryna Sabalenka, the reigning champion from last week's Mutua Madrid Open. Stretched to three sets in her first round against Yulia Putintseva and second round against Sakkari, Gauff beat Sabalenka in two, 7-5, 6-3—Sabalenka's first straight-sets loss in 2021.

"Our previous matchups we split sets both times. She brings the intensity on the court from the first point. I have to make sure that I manage that and bring even more intensity. I think you feel it the whole match," Gauff said. 

"I think it's just we're both really good competitors. She's a nice girl. When you play her on court, she's tough as anything. Off the court, she's super nice.

"I think it's one of those matches that for me as a fan, I mean, if I were to be able to watch myself play, that would be a match that I would want to watch because you know we're going to bring everything we have from the beginning to the end."

For a spot in the semifinals, Gauff will next face world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty for the first time. 

"It will be great to see where my level is. She's the No. 1 player in the world. I have no pressure on me. I'm just going to go out there and see what I can do and try my best," Gauff said on facing the world No. 1.

"She's a very smart player. I don't really expect -- I mean, no mistakes are stupid, but no erratic errors, if that makes sense, from her. She's going to play tricky with the slice. She likes the clay."

Pegula's breakthrough year has continued in the Italian capital, where she beat world No. 2 Naomi Osaka in the second round, 7-6(2), 6-2. The Buffalo, N.Y. native didn't lose a set in three matches, which also included straight-sets wins over Daria Kasatkina and Ekaterina Alexandrova.

"I know it's not her favorite surface. It's probably her least-favorite surface. But it still is a win, and I still want to take confidence away from that knowing that I can play," Pegula said after beating Osaka. 

"Se's obviously been unbeatable, kind of, on hard court, and I knew I just had chances today to beat her. I just thought I played solid and I played a good match. I was tough mentally. 

"I'm not really a clay court player, but, I mean, I did grow up on green clay when I was younger in the States so I'm not too unfamiliar with it... so I just tried to be the clay court player out there today, and it worked just good enough."

On the men's side, Opelka also has not dropped a set in his three victories, snapping a six-match losing streak dating back to the Australian Open in the process. After wins over Richard Gasquet, talented Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti and Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatzev, he'll face Argentina's Federico Delbonis for a spot in his first career Masters 1000 semifinal. 

Also notably in Rome, Serena Williams returned for her first tournament since February's Australian Open. She was beaten by Argentina's Nadia Podoroska, a semifinalist at last year's French Open, 7-6(6), 7-5.