Iga Swiatek has learned her projected path to winning her third consecutive title at the Italian Open in Rome. Swiatek, seeded at No 1, has a first-round bye in Rome. In her Rome opener, Swiatek will play against eitherAnastasia Pavlyuchenkovaor Sara Errani.

In the Rome third round, Swiatek will likely play former world No 3 Elina Svitolina or 28th-seeded Bernarda Pera. In the Rome round-of-16, Swiatek could meet No 16 seed Liudmila Samsonova or 21st-seed Donna Vekic. In the Rome quarterfinal, Swiatek is projected to meet Elena Rybakina, who has beaten her twice so far in 2023.

In the Rome semifinal, Swiatek is projected to meet a very familiar face – fourth-seeded Ons Jabeur. In the Rome final, Swiatek and world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka are projected to meet.

Swiatek and Sabalenka are the two players who have shown the most at the start of the clay season.

Two weeks ago, Swiatek defeated Sabalenka in the Stuttgart final. This past Saturday, Sabalenka got her revenge by beating Swiatek 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the Madrid final. “We just played on a good level, but [Sabalenka] was better today.

Maybe sometimes I could be more proactive, but honestly, I think we both played good. I don’t have any big regrets. Sometimes it’s tougher, sometimes it’s easier. That’s why we have variety in tennis, and that’s why sometimes players are playing better on some surfaces and some on different [surfaces].

But it doesn’t really matter because she won, and I just respect that and I don’t want to take it from Aryna,” Swiatek said after the final. In Rome, Swiatek captured back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022. This year, Swiatek is again the top favorite to win it all in Rome. It remains to be seen if Swiatek can lift her third consecutive Rome title this year.