Ladies in Rome: Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2010

Tourney site: here

Draw: here

1st Quarter: ReeRee comes back from her Spring sabbatical recovering from a knee injury sustained in Oz. If anyone doesn't need to play a lot of tournaments to be match tough, count on ReeRee. The only question is whether she cares enough about a non-slam event like this to grind it out on her least favorite surface, red clay. On the other hand, ReeRee could have been holed up, practicing on a top-secret Florida clay court so that she can "get me some French." Other seeds in her quarter: Bepa is currently without a coach and made a good run in Charleston (Prince racquets, beware!). Sveta has had disappointing results likely but can never be counted out with her talent.

Sleepers: Kvitova, Domi




2nd Quarter: Vee is back too and is recovering from a knee injury that has visibly hobbled her most of this year. Despite this, she made the finals in Miami and won on clay in Acapulco. Still clay is not her best surface as her ball-bashing mentality means that she lacks the patience to hold off on pulling the trigger. Peer is naturally inclined to be a counterpuncher and made the semis of Stuttgart but did not grow up sliding on clay. The other seeds, Whoopie and Lady JaJa, have more dirt ball experience. Look for JaJa to make a deep run and have her chances against Vee.

Sleepers: Oudin




3rd Quarter: What a difference a year makes! A year ago Baby Hippo won this event and eventually ascended to #1, earning the wrath of tennis purists for not winning a slam. More sympathetic folks suspect that the weight of the expectations contributed to the back injury that has effectively taken her out of the tour since USO '09. This is her second tourney back. Advancing far is not her goal but testing whether her back can hold up. NaturAna fans are hoping she can beat Vesina for a possible meeting with a highly seeded Vika. Nads and Lena are the other high seeds, but Lena has a bit more experience in pressure situations.

Sleepers: Dulkbag, Errani





4th Quarter: Sunshine is recovering from an ankle injury and faces a dangerous draw. While she should have no trouble with other high seeds (Flavs, Aggie and Francesca), all the sleepers can hit through her. Look for the sleepers to make her work hard to advance far (specifically JZ and possibly Dani). Still Sunshine should eventually make it.

Sleepers: JZ, Kleybs, Dani



Semis: Lena d. Sunshine, JaJa d. ReeRee

Finals: Lena d. JaJa