This content was published 7 years ago. It may refer to a past edition of the Internazionali d’Italia.

Top seed Angelique Kerber, who will open her Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign against a qualifier, has been drawn in the same quarter of the draw as Maria Sharapova, who will play Christina McHale in the first round, and Simona Halep.

WTA stars Dominika Cibulkova and Roberta Vinci were present at the draw ceremony, which took place under the ancient archway of the Arco di Constatino next to the Colosseum, along with Italian wild card Deborah Chiesa. Former Italian players Lea Pericoli and Nicola Pietrangeli were also in attendance.

Cibulkova and Vinci could end up playing each other in the second round if the popular Italian can defeat Ekaterina Makarova in her first round match. Joining them in the top half of the draw is No. 6 seed Halep, whose second round opponent will be either Naomi Osaka or Stuttgart champion Laura Siegemund, and Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In notable opening round matches in the bottom half of the draw, Venus Williams will play Yaroslava Shvedova, No. 2 seed Karolina Pliskova will meet the winner of Lauren Davis and Carla Suarez Navarro, and Johanna Konta will face either Rio gold medallist Monica Puig or Yulia Putintseva.

To view the women’s singles draw click here.