Iga Swiatek has learned her projected path to winning her third consecutive title at the Italian Open in Rome. Swiatek, seeded at No 1, has a first-round bye in Rome. In her Rome opener, Swiatek will play against either Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova or Sara Errani.
In the Rome third round, Swiatek will likely play former world No 3 Elina Svitolina or 28th-seeded Bernarda Pera. In the Rome round-of-16, Swiatek could meet No 16 seed Liudmila Samsonova or 21st-seed Donna Vekic. In the Rome quarterfinal, Swiatek is projected to meet Elena Rybakina, who has beaten her twice so far in 2023.
In the Rome semifinal, Swiatek is projected to meet a very familiar face – fourth-seeded Ons Jabeur. In the Rome final, Swiatek and world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka are projected to meet.
WTA Rome singles main draw pic.twitter.com/4dfamwmgTg — Michal Samulski (@MichalSamulski) May 7, 2023
Will Swiatek again meet Sabalenka in a clay final?
Swiatek and Sabalenka are the two players who have shown the most at the start of the clay season.
Two weeks ago, Swiatek defeated Sabalenka in the Stuttgart final. This past Saturday, Sabalenka got her revenge by beating Swiatek 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the Madrid final. “We just played on a good level, but [Sabalenka] was better today.
Maybe sometimes I could be more…
