Rome Previews: Can Amanda Anisimova hit the ground running against Ostapenko?

Amanda Anisimova vs. Jelena Ostapenko

At the start of the year, Anisimova may have had Roland Garros in her sights. She nearly made the final there in 2019; she lost to top seed Aryna Sabalenka in 2025; and in the time since, she had raised the ceiling on her expectations by making the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open.

But this hasn’t been the season, or the clay swing, of Anisimova’s dreams. First, after a series of middling results, she split with her coach. Then a wrist injury sidelined her in Madrid. Now she’ll make her debut on dirt in Rome, against a former French Open champ.

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Anisimova and Ostapenko have played twice, both times on hard courts in Doha. Ostapenko won in three sets in 2022; Anisimova won in straight sets last year.

Whether it’s a hard court or a clay court, we know what kind of points these two will play, and what kind of shots they’ll hit. They’re two of the WTA’s most aggressive ball-strikers. They don’t waste time setting up rallies; if there’s a corner that’s open, or half-open, they aim for it.

Anisimova is ranked 30 spots higher—No. 6 to No. 36. She has a better serve, can play a little safer when needed, and, like I wrote above, has much higher expectations for herself than she did even a year ago. The problem for her will be shaking off the rust of two months against a player who won’t give her much rhythm or time to react. Winner: Anisimova

Coco Gauff vs. Tereza Valentova

When Valentova won two matches at the Australian Open earlier this year, I thought we might be looking at the Next Big Thing in the women’s game for 2026. She was just 18. As a junior, she had won Roland Garros and reached the final at the US Open. And she hit with a heavy topspin pace that looked WTA-ready.

The Czech, now 19, might still be a Next Big Thing. But since then her results haven’t been as eye-opening as I thought they might. She’s 14-9 for the year, and hasn’t been out of the second round at a atop-tier event. But she seems to have found a groove on clay. She made the final of a 125 in France last week, beat an established opponent in Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-2 in her Rome opener on Wednesday, and has cracked the Top 50

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Now she gets last year’s finalist. Gauff and Valentova have played once, at Roland Garros last year, with the American winning 6-2, 6-4. Coco would go on to win the title, but her form right now is more up in the air. She made the final in Miami last month, but couldn’t close out another young Czech, Linda Noskova, in Madrid last week.

This will be a good test of where Valentova is in terms of her season and her career, and where Gauff is as she begins her final preparations for her title defense in Paris. Winner: Gauff

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Barbora Krejcikova

You never know exactly where or when you’re going to see Krejcikova. She has won a pair of Slams and been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world, all while seeming like something of a part-time player. Injuries have mounted and layoffs have lengthened over the years, but the 30-year-old is still dangerous when she returns. Will she be again when she faces the world No. 1?

This time the Czech is returning from a three-month absence due to a thigh injury she suffered Dubai. She’s just 4-3 on the year, and 1-0 on clay. Sabalenka, of course, has gone in the opposite direction this spring. She won the Sunshine Double and is 26-2 for the year.

Maybe most important, she’s 6-1 against Krejcikova. Her lone loss came in 2023 in Dubai; their last three matches have been routine straight-set wins for Sabalenka.

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Still, this evening-session meeting in Centrale could be tricky. Krejcikova, a Roland Garros champ, knows her way around a clay court, plays with a unique and disruptive mix of touch and pace, and is capable of stunning hot streaks. Sabalenka may also have had a little of the wind knocked out of her sails by Hailey Baptiste last week in Madrid. She won’t want to end her preparation for RG with a second-round loss in Rome.

Despite Sabalenka’s one-sided record against her, Krejcikova’s Slam pedigree and high ceiling may make her nervous. Winner: Sabalenka