3-to-see Italian Open Round of 16 women's matches on Monday
- Iga Swiatek vs. Angelique Kerber
- Coco Gauff vs. Paula Badosa
- Qinwen Zheng vs. Naomi Osaka
Two tennis moms have big Round of 16 matches at the Italian Open on Monday, May 13. In addition, a fan-favorite player who has been injured on-and-off for a year reaches the Round of 16. Let's get into Monday's three-to-see.
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek faces former World No. 1 Angelique Kerber. Kerber is slowly regaining her form after being on maternity leave in 2023. She faced Swiatek in January's United Cup between Poland and Germany shortly after she returned so this should be a decidedly different matchup than that 6-3, 6-0 win by Swiatek. However, Swiatek is always the favorite on clay. Three of Swiatek's four Grand Slams were won on clay while none of the three Kerber Grand Slams were won on clay.
World No. 3 Coco Gauff faces Paula Badosa in the second of the three-to-see. Badosa's injury issues are well documented, but we have our collective fingers crossed that she is healthy for the long-term. Badosa owns the 3-1 head-to-head record over Gauff, but Gauff won the last matchup in straight sets on the clay in Madrid in 2023.
Naomi Osaka is featured in the final three-to-see
Four-time Grand Slam champion and new mom Naomi Osaka is slowly falling in love with clay courts She recorded career-first back-to-back wins on clay at this year's Italian Open and she had never defeated a Top 20 player on clay before beating two so far at this year's event, Marta Kostyuk in the Round of 64 and Daria Kasatkina in the Round of 32.
She faces 2024 Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng who defeated Shelby Rogers and the Czech Republic's sensation Linda Noskova en route to meeting Osaka in the Round of 16.
Osaka is figuring out how to use her powerful serve and strokes on the clay court and will pose many problems for Zheng if she plays as well as in the previous rounds of the Italian Open.
Watch these (and all) Italian Open matches on The Tennis Channel. These Round of 16 matches will be played sometime Monday; match times have not been determined yet.
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