Google News WTA Rome: Anastasia Potapova booed by the crowd
by LORENZO CIOTTI
Elisabetta Cocciaretto, despite the intense contribution of the home crowd, was unable to avoid the defeat against Anastasija Potapova in straight sets, 6-4 6-4, at the Italian Open 2023, on the Rome clay-courts. And among the themes of the match, in addition to the facts of the court, there is the harsh issue between the crowd present in the stands and the Russian tennis player, who had to manage the unbridled cheering of the Italians in favor of her player for the whole duration of the meeting.
Which evidently gave Potapova a lot of annoyance, who didn't hesitate to react the moment she scored the match point, inviting the supporters with a clear gesture to calm down after having pushed Cocciaretto for the entire match.
Crowd that, as expected, counter-reacted, overwhelming her with boos. In short, a new controversy for the Russian tennis player, who in recent weeks had received a shower of criticism for wearing the shirt of the Russian soccer club Spartak Moscow, on the tennis court.
drama at the end of Potapova-Cocciaretto.
Anastasia won and told the italian crowd to 'calm down' as they were cheering for Elisabetta in her comeback from 1-5 to 4-5. They were loud, but they never went against her.
after that, she was heavily booed.
video by: @WTA TV pic.twitter.com/3EKJS3Bnn5 — Diego Barbiani (@Diego_Barbiani) May 11, 2023
A bad day for Italian girls on teh Rome clay-courts
The Italy of tennis loses another piece in the draw of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.
Only yesterday, five Italian players were eliminated in one fell swoop: Nuria Brancaccio, Lucia Bronzetti, Camilla Rosatello, Matilde Paoletti and Sara Errani. If the first three did not have an impact in the third and decisive set, Paoletti had an equal match with Magdalena Frech.
The Pole was perfect on the score of 6-5, when she exploited without hesitation the first match point available to her. The challenge to face was more difficult for Errani, who failed to keep up with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, finalist at Roland Garros in 2021. The Russian won 6-1, 6-1. Adding to this unfortunate list, this time, is Elisabetta Cocciaretto.