MATCH POINTS

No.4 seed Tamara Zidansek’s only previous meeting with Lara Arruabarrena was in the Bogota quarterfinals in April, a match won 6-4, 6-2 by Arruabarrena.

Arantxa Rus is yet to lose a set to qualifier Amandine Hesse in two previous meetings, both at ITF level – in Biarritz in 2012 and in Saint-Gaudens last year.

The Palermo Ladies Open was a WTA Tour fixture between 1990 and 2013, and returns for the first time since then this year. The only former champion in the draw is wildcard Sara Errani, who was the victor in 2008 and 2012 as well as runner-up in 2009 (to Flavia Pennetta) and 2013 (to Roberta Vinci).

Gabriela Ce has qualified for her first WTA Tour main draw since Florianopolis 2016. The Brazilian, who upset No.1 seed Katarina Zavatska and No.8 seed Xu Shilin in the qualifying draw, has reached one WTA Tour quarterfinal in her career – Florianopolis 2015 – and faces Natalia Vikhlyantseva for the first time today.

Late-blooming Italian Giulia Gatto-Monticone, who impressed in her Wimbledon debut against Serena Williams, will seek her first WTA Tour main draw win since defeating Ons Jabeur at Kuala Lumpur 2014 today. The 31-year-old’s only previous encounter with Antonia Lottner, in the 2015 Lenzerheide ITF W25 quarterfinals, ended in a retirement for the German trailing 2-4.