PREVIEW | WTA Rome Open 2025 - Day Five: Rivalry renewed as Danielle Collins faces Iga Swiatek in top tie

As the WTA Tournament advances at the Rome Open, there are less and less ties on the schedule but it is quality over quantity on Saturday 10 May with the schedule confirmed and our preview looks ahead to the action.

Rivalry renewed as Danielle Collins faces Iga Swiatek. Also in action on the same day as Jannik Sinner is a certain Jasmine Paolini who will hope to also carry home hopes. While Diana Shnaider, Jessica Pegula, Elina Svitolina and Madison Keys are also involved.

Iga Swiatek will tussle with Danielle Collins again in a feud which has taken place over the past year or so since the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when Collins accused the American of being 'insincere' after retiring from their Quarter-Final clash.

“I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about, you know, my injury," she said at the time.

“There’s a lot that happens on camera, and there are a lot of people with a ton of charisma and come out and are one way on camera and another way in the locker room.

“And I just haven’t had the best experience, and I don’t really feel like anybody needs to be insincere.

“They can be the way that they are. I can accept that, and I don’t need the fakeness.”

She appeared to move past it during the WTA Finals saying: “Of course, I think in hindsight, would do things differently, but hopefully we can just move on from it and just be good competitors, be good people and just try to be the best people we can be.

“I certainly try to be the best person that I can be and I fall short of that sometimes and people make mistakes. Hopefully we can just focus on playing some good tennis and move past it.”

But soon reverted at the United Cup writing: "New year, same me" caption as she didn't look Swiatek in the eyes when she was shaking her hand and was rolling her eyes as she took to Instagram with that caption.

Albeit while their feud appears to be one sided in Collins' favour, the Head to Head is in Swiatek's favour. She is 7-1 up with Collins only win coming in their second meeting back in 2022 when she beat her to reach the Australian Open Final.

Also involved on a day which sees Jannik Sinner and Matteo Berrettini take Centre Stage is the player who alongside Sinner has anchored Italian tennis over the past year until Lorenzo Musetti came around in Jasmine Paolini.

Paolini has a tough task in the coming months to defend her incredible 2024 season so every little helps. She will face Ons Jabeur who was due to face Petra Kvitova but the multiple Wimbledon champion had to withdraw injured.

Jabeur will hope for a resurgent display in the vein of Maria Sakkari who took down Jasmine Paolini last week albeit there was chatter that the Italian was unwell so perhaps not the best gauge. She takes the next step of her partnership with Marc Lopez tussling with the home crowd who will either be a help or hindrance for the sixth seed.

Then it is the turn of the queen of WTA Consistency in Jessica Pegula. She faces a player though who she has a poor record against in Elise Mertens who has a 3-1 lead. Albeit there is cause to be optimistic for the American who beat her at the Australian Open this past January. She will hope to avoid the shock losses that have derailed her momentum slightly in Ekaterina Alexandrova in Stuttgart and Moyuka Uchijima in Madrid.

Also in action elsewhere is Diana Shnaider who has a great chance for another superb run this week. The Russian thrashed Caroline Dolehide 6-0, 6-0 to start her week albeit she has now split with Dinara Safina.

When she last split from a coach, she employed her father and it saw her form fall off a cliff. So it will be interesting to see who is next in for the bandana queen. On court, it will be Jaqueline Cristian who took down Alycia Parks and Yulia Putintseva earlier this tournament for a great run.

Elina Svitolina after losing in the semi-finals of Madrid to Sabalenka eased through Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to start her campaign and now has Hailey Baptiste for a spot in the Last 16. In fact the whole Pietrangeli line-up favours the seeds as Jelena Ostapenko faces Lucky Loser, Laura Siegemund.

Two more ties to end the day and one that could provide an upset. Peyton Stearns has been in superb form as of late taking down Anna Kalinskaya last round and with a new coach, she has managed to gain red hot form again.

A year on from winning Rabat, she is firmly a player that none of the top players want to draw including Madison Keys who she beat in Toronto last year. So any poor form from Keys could lead to a big win for Stearns. The same can be said for Naomi Osaka who will look to continue her winning streak to the Last 16 when she faces Marie Bouzkova.