Argentina’s Sabatini Beats Golarsa in Italian Open
Top-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina overpowered Laura Golarsa of Italy 6-2, 6-2 today to move into the third round of the $300,000 Italian Open women’s tennis championships.
Sabatini, the defending champion who is ranked No. 3 in the world, overwhelmed the 81st-ranked Italian in just over one hour on the center court of the Foro Italico.
After the two held serve in the first four games, Sabatini took charge, running off the next four games for the set while dropping just 2 points.
Golarsa broke serve in the first game of the second set, but Sabatini broke right back and cruised the rest of the way as she controlled the tempo with her heavy top-spin ground strokes.
Sabatini, who had received a first-round bye, will meet another unheralded Italian, Laura Lapi, in the third round of what appears to be an easy path to the final.
In other matches today, 10th-seeded Bettina Fulco downed Celine Cohen of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2; No. 12 Isabelle Demongeot of France swept past Marzia Grossi of Italy 6-4, 6-1, and No. 13 Barbara Paulus of Austria beat Amanda Coetzer of South Africa 6-2, 6-4.
In Hamburg, West Germany, meanwhile, two-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker of West Germany defeated Javier Sanchez of Spain 6-1, 6-3 today to advance to the third round of the $692,000 German Open tennis tournament.
Top-ranked Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia also advanced.
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