Two-time defending champion Swiatek tops Rome entry list

All of the Top 25 players in the Hologic WTA Tour rankings will head to Rome for the 80th edition of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, as the initial entries for the prestigious clay-court event were released this week.

Main-draw action at the fifth WTA 1000 event of the season will span nearly a full fortnight, from Tuesday, May 9 through the singles and doubles finals on Saturday, May 20.

World No.1 Iga Swiatek

View Profile will be back in an attempt to claim her third consecutive Internazionali BNL d'Italia title. Swiatek won the 2021 title by defeating Karolina Pliskova

View Profile 6-0, 6-0 in the final, and she defended her crown last year, culminating with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ons Jabeur

View Profile in the final.

A three-peat would tie Swiatek with Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova for the most titles in Rome since WTA-1000 events were introduced in 2008.

Read more: How Swiatek's first year at No.1 stacks up against the greats

World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka

View Profile , this year's Australian Open champion, leads the pack of players who will try to dethrone Swiatek. No.3 Jessica Pegula

View Profile , No.4 Jabeur and No.5 Caroline Garcia

View Profile round out the Top 5 entrants.

The rest of the current Top 10 will also be in the mix: No.6 Coco Gauff

View Profile , No.7 Elena Rybakina

View Profile , No.8 Daria Kasatkina

View Profile , No.9 Maria Sakkari

View Profile and No.10 Petra Kvitova.

Elina Svitolina

View Profile , who won back-to-back Rome titles in 2017 and 2018, will contest the event for the first time since giving birth to daughter Skaï last year. Former World No.1 Pliskova, who captured the title in 2019, joins Swiatek and Svitolina as the former champions in the field.

Along with Jabeur, other former Rome finalists on the initial entry list include 2013 runner-up Victoria Azarenka

View Profile , 2016 finalist Madison Keys

View Profile and Alizé Cornet, who made the 2008 final as an 18-year-old.

Other Grand Slam champions entered include Barbora Krejcikova

View Profile , Emma Raducanu

View Profile , Jelena Ostapenko

View Profile , Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin

View Profile and Bianca Andreescu

View Profile . Andreescu is rehabbing an ankle injury she suffered in Miami, but she is still currently on the entry list.

The Italians who received direct entry into the main draw on home soil are World No.20 Martina Trevisan

View Profile , No.43 Camila Giorgi, No.51 Elisabetta Cocciaretto

View Profile and No.66 Jasmine Paolini

View Profile .