The defending champion, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, will be looking to keep her unbeaten record when the Italian Open begins on May 9 here, with 19 of the top-20 players set to compete in the WTA 1000 tournament.

The draw, which was released late on Friday, had world No.1 Iga Swiatek headlining the field. Swiatek could face 16th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the tournament’s Round of 16, while 10th seed Emma Raducanu of the United Kingdom could face fifth seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.

Another Belarussian, No. 3 Aryna Sabalenka, could face 13th seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, while 12th seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland could face No. 7 Danielle Collins of the United States if all goes as planned.

Other key potential Round-of-16 matches include eighth seed Garbine Muguruza facing Tunisian Ons Jabeur, and American Coco Gauff facing fourth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia could face No.2 seed Paula Badosa of Spain.

Swiatek, like the other top-8 seeds, has an opening-round bye. She will face the winner of an all-American match between Shelby Rogers and Alison Riske in the second round. In the Round of 16, Swiatek could face 2013 Rome runner-up Victoria Azarenka.

Swiatek did not compete in the first WTA 1000 clay-court event of the season, withdrawing According to wtatennis.com, the Polish star is still unbeaten at WTA 1000 events in 2022, having won titles in Doha, Indian Wells, and Miami on her way to No. 1.

In the bottom half of the first quarter, two US Open champions will meet in the first round, with reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu facing 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in their first meeting.

Whoever wins will face the winner of the match between Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain and another former US Open champion, Naomi Os That first match is a rematch from Madrid, where Sorribes Tormo defeated Osaka en route to the quarter

The winner of this section could face No. 5 seed Anett Kontaveit in the Round of 16.

No.3 seed Aryna Sabalenka is scheduled to face Madrid finalist Jessica Pegula of the US in the Round of 16, if seedings hold. In the first round, Pegula will face big-hitting Liudmila Samsonova.

Simona Halep, the 2020 Rome champion who has won nine singles titles on clay, will face Alize Cornet of France in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open rematch. Cornet defeated Halep earlier this year in Melbourne to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.