The opening day of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia delivered a match for the ages. Anastasia Zakharova saved five match points against Dayana Yastremska before winning 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(6) in a marathon lasting over three hours.

The deciding tiebreak will be remembered for years. Trailing 1-6, Zakharova reeled off seven consecutive points to complete one of the most remarkable turnarounds of the season. A refusal to surrender that defied all logic and scoreboard pressure.

Elsewhere, Zheng Qinwen had to dig deep to overcome Anna Bondar 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Broken twice in the deciding set, the Chinese star won the last four games to advance. It marked her fourth win this season after dropping the opening set, and her 11th career victory in Rome, an Open Era record for a Chinese player.

Bianca Andreescu dispatched Sofia Kenin 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 45 minutes, claiming her fifth win in seven career meetings against the 2020 Australian Open champion. won her first match since February, beating Elsa Jacquemot 6-2, 6-4 to set up a second-round clash with world No. 1 .

, the top qualifier, battled past Nikola Bartunkova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, extending her clay-court record to twelve wins from fourteen matches this spring.