PREVIEW | WTA Rome Open 2025 - Day Seven: Sabalenka vs. Kostyuk rematch as Gauff faces Raducanu

The Day Seven of the WTA 1000 Rome Open arrives, and the Round of 16 will be played entirely this Monday, with Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff as the main contenders still in competition, after some surprising eliminations over the weekend.

The weekend saw the elimination of several contenders, most notably the defending champion Iga Swiatek (No. 4), who joins Americans Jessica Pegula (No. 3), Madison Keys (No. 7), and Emma Navarro (No. 9), as well as the 2023 champion Elena Rybakina.

The top section of the draw had its four highest-ranked players advancing without surprises during the first rounds. Aryna Sabalenka (No. 1) will face Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (No. 27), in what will be a chance for revenge for the Ukrainian, who came close to causing an upset against Sabalenka in Madrid two weeks ago but ended up losing in two tight sets 6-7(4), 6-7(7).

Also present will be Zheng Qinwen (No. 8), who again achieved consecutive victories this week after overcoming Olga Danilovic and Magdalena Frech in straight sets. The Chinese player has not quite taken the expected protagonism in this clay-court swing and will have an interesting test against a renewed Bianca Andreescu (No. 121), who is showing once again that when she is physically fit, she can beat anyone. The Canadian is in the 4th round of a WTA 1000 for the first time in over two years and comes from defeating the 2023 champion Elena Rybakina.

Coco Gauff (No. 4) will star in a more than interesting match against former US Open champion Emma Raducanu (No. 49), between two who only have one previous encounter, back in the 2023 Melbourne International, with a victory for the American 6-3, 7-6, although this will be their first time facing each other on clay courts. The surface favors Gauff, who is also on a roll after being a finalist at the Madrid Open, but Raducanu is not far behind, having shown a great level on clay courts this year and coming off three consecutive wins, which could have her full of confidence, while we see an increasingly consistent version of Raducanu who is on the verge of returning to the top 40.

The second match will be between Mirra Andreeva (No. 7) and Clara Tauson (No. 23), their third meeting of the season. The first time they faced each other was in the final of the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, and a couple of weeks later in the third round of Indian Wells, on both occasions victories for the Russian who ended up taking her first pair of WTA 1000 titles. Will this be a sign for Andreeva to strike her third blow of the season?

Jasmine Paolini (No. 5) overcame a tough test against 3-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-3. The Italian fell in the opener a year ago, but this time she has found good form on her home soil, and as the only local representative still in competition in the women's draw, she will have extra motivation when she takes to the court. She will face former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko, champion in Stuttgart three weeks ago, who in this clay-court swing has already defeated rivals such as Emma Navarro, Iga Swiatek, and Aryna Sabalenka.

World No. 14 Diana Shnaider has consistently remained within the top 15 in the last year, but has not yet managed to break the top 10 mark. Rome could be a good chance, as she seeks to reach the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 for the second time in her career when she takes on Elise Mertens (No. 26). The Belgian caused one of the upsets by eliminating Jessica Pegula, and surely sees good chances of making a deep run, considering that the big title favorites are in the top section of the draw.

After the elimination of Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys in the bottom section of the draw, a more than open zone remained, where the only match between two seeded players will be played: Naomi Osaka (No. 58) against Peyton Stearns (No. 42). It no longer seems a surprise to see the Japanese player well-adapted to clay courts, and she has three consecutive wins in Rome – which add to the 5 she achieved in Saint-Malo, where she lifted her first career clay-court title the previous weekend.

Whoever advances will face the winner of the match between Danielle Collins (No. 30) and Elina Svitolina (No. 17), who have faced each other three times (h2h 2-1 in favor of Collins). They have no matches on hard courts, and their last encounter was at Indian Wells 2025, with a victory for the Ukrainian. Surely an ideal place for Svitolina, who has already won the title twice in Rome, but Collins comes with confidence sky-high after eliminating none other than Swiatek in the third round.