Beatriz Haddad Maia (Twitter)
Colombia’s Camila Osorio will take on 12th seed Haddad Maia in the fourth round of the Italian Open
Camila Osorio has been quite a revelation at the Italian Open. She overcame two rounds of qualifiers to progress to the main draw of the tournament. In her opening encounter, Osorio defeated Varvara Gracheva in a thrilling match played over three sets before pulling off an upset against 29th seed Petra Martic.
She didn’t just stop there and went on to achieve the best result of her campaign so far – registering a straight sets win over No.5 seed Caroline Garcia to set up a clash against Haddad Maia. It remains to be seen if Osorio can continue her fairy-tale run in Rome or just runs out of steam.
Brazil’s Haddad Maia has been in decent form this season but her inconsistency is a cause for worry. She has come to Rome at the back of a first-round exit from the Madrid Open but she has brushed off her one loss and made a good start to the tournament. The 13th seed began her campaign with a bang, getting the better of Elena-Gabriela Ruse in her opening encounter. She then went on to defeat No.17 seed Magda Linette 7-5, 6-4 to progress to the Round of 16.
Haddad Maia has been doing well in both singles and doubles on the WTA tour. Her best performance in singles so far this season came at the Abu Dhabi in February, where she reached the semis before losing to 2nd seed Belinda Bencic. However, playing both singles and doubles can be hectic and it will be interesting to see how she manages her workload because she is also scheduled to play in the Round of 16 of the doubles draw.
Date – Monday, 15th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Tennis Channel
Start Time – 12:00 am IST
Location – Foro Italico
Match details – Round of 16 match
Osorio and Haddad Maia have never played each other before on the WTA tour. This is the first professional head to head clash between the two players. On paper, Haddad Maia is the outright favourite both in terms of form and rankings. However, one can certainly not rule out the promising Colombian youngster and she is expected to put up a tough fight. We are predicting an intense encounter with Haddad Maia eventually edging out Osorio in three sets.
More Tennis news
Follow our dedicated Tennis page for instant Tennis news and updates