The draw for the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Italy has been released and Maria is the #2 seed and has a bye in the 1st round. In the 2nd round Maria will play either Gisela Dulko of Argentina or Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Maria has played Dulko twice before - both times in on hardcourts and won in straight sets. Maria played Cibulkova in the final in Amelia Island last month and won in straight sets.
The 1st seed Maria can meet is #13 seed Nicole Vaidisova of Slovakia in the 3rd round and is seeded to meet #8 seed Marion Bartoli of France in the quarters. Last year's champion Jelena Jankovic is a possible opponent in the semis and top seed Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova round off the draw in the top half.
This is Maria's 1st red clay tournament of 2008 and she has played here twice before in 2004 and 2005 and her best performance here was reaching the semis in 2005.