Rome, Italy, 13 May 2015 | tennis.com.au/AP/AAP

Emerging Aussie Daria Gavrilova has advanced to the second round of the Internazionale BNL d’Italia after a three-set win over Swiss star Belinda Bencic.

Gavrilova, the world No.78, beat the 33rd-ranked Bencic 6-7(2) 7-5 6-2 in almost three hours.

Having qualified for the main draw, Gavrilova will next take on No.7 seed Ana Ivanovic.

Injury woes for Aussie women

Maria Sharapova opened her bid for a third Italian Open title with a win over Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova on Tuesday.

The third-seeded Sharapova was leading 6-2 3-1 when Gajdosova retired with a right shoulder injury.

Sharapova won back-to-back titles at the Foro Italico in 2011 and 2012, and is coming off a loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova in last week’s Madrid Open semifinals.

Another Aussie, Casey Dellacqua, was forced to withdraw from the tournament ahead of her match with Victoria Azarenka, citing a right foot injury.

Kyrgios, Tomic eliminated

Australian men’s hopes were dashed at the Italian Open when rising stars Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic both suffered first-round losses.

A week after Kyrgios beat Roger Federer in Madrid, the 20-year-old was outclassed by Spanish 11th seed Feliciano Lopez, who won 6-4 7-6(4) on Tuesday.

Tomic was then eliminated in a three-set battle, going down in a marathon 7-6(3) 6-7(4) 7-6(4) match against Serb Viktor Troicki.

Had the Aussies won, they would have faced off in the second round.