TENNIS – The Women’s draw took place for the Foro Italico in Rome and lots of exciting matches are expected in the early rounds of the Italian Premier level tournament. Serena Williams was drawn in the same half with Maria Sharapova and the two stars are on collision course for a possible semifinal clash. Eighteen of the top 20 are in action in the Eternal City Diego Sampaolo
Serena was drawn in the top half and could face the winner of the match between Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova and Sam Stosur in the second round. In the Round of 16 the US legend could face Sara Errani in a re.-match of last year’s final but the Italian will have first to overcome Daniela Hantukhova in the second round and Barbora Strykova in the second round. Williams could face Ana Ivanovic in the quarter finals but in the same section of the draw there are other interesting names like 2014 US Open quarter finalist Belinda Bencic, the winners of the two clashes between Sabine Lisicki and Sloane Stephens and Karolina Pliskova vs Timea Bacsinszcy.
Sharapova could face Gajdosova in the second round and the winner of the clash between Caroline Garcia and Australian Open semifinalist Madison Keys. Sharapova could face Caroline Wozniacki (finalist in Stuttgart) in the quarter finals but this section of the draw features Vika Azarenka and this year’s Stuttgart champion Angelique Kerber. Wozniacki could face Azarenka In the second round. Azarenka is in good form and earned three match points against Serena Williams in the third round in Madrid. The winner of this match could meet Kerber in the third round.
The third quarter of the draw could feature the clash between Carla Suarez Navarro and this week’s Madrid champion Petra Kvitova. The Spanish player, the third player from her country to reach the top 10, could clash against Italian Roberta Vinci in the second round and Eugenie Bouchard in the Round of 16.
Kvitova could play against the winner of the all-Italian match between Karin Knapp and Francesca Schiavone in the second round and either Jelena Jankovic or Camila Giorgi.
In the bottom half of the draw this year’s Australian Open semifinalist Ekaterina Makarova could clash against Madrid finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova. The winner of this match could meet Lucie Safarova in the third round.
Simona Halep, World Number 2, could meet either Venus Williams or Garbine Muguruza. The Romanian player is looking to bounce back from her first round defeat in Madrid. Sharapova will need to do better than Halep to overtake the Romanian player as World Number 2
