28th seed Anna Kalinskaya has been quite disappointing this season. The Russian enjoyed a solid breakthrough campaign last year, finishing runner-up in Dubai and Berlin.
2025 WTA Tour
WTA 1000
Italian Open
Foro Italico, Rome, Italy (Outdoor Clay)
Selected Round of 64 Matches- 9th May
Anna Kalinskaya (28) 0.78 vs Peyton Stearns 1
She was particularly impressive in that WTA 1000 event in Dubai, beating the top-ten trio of Swiatek, Gauff and Ostapenko. She would go on to reach a career-high ranking of 11th in October. But Kalinskaya has really struggled this year, facing multiple early exits either side of a lone semifinal run in Singapore. Her form picked up as the tour switched to clay (she shocked Madison Keys en route to a Charleston quarterfinal finish). She ran into Keys again in Madrid, with the American exacting her revenge in a tight round of 32 win. Kalinskaya isn’t ideally suited to the rigours of clay-court tennis (especially on surfaces these slow). She prefers to hit the ball flat and lacks a little bit of variety. However, she should feel quite confident after winning the Madrid double’s title playing alongside Sorana Cirstea.
23-year-old Peyton Stearns courted some controversy in her first-round Rome victory over Nuria Brancaccio. The electronic line calling system failed, causing the chair umpire to leave her seat and approach the mark. Stearns took exception to this, having just played in Madrid where umpires were told to remain in their chairs. The electronic line calling system just isn’t where it needs to be in clay-court tennis (little wonder that Roland Garros is deciding to stick with manual calls). In any event, Stearns was impressive in Madrid, reaching the round of 16 with victories over Birrell, Anisimova and Masarova (she lost to Sabalenka in the round of 16). Her victory over Brancaccio took her to 4-1 in these WTA 1000 clay-court events. Both of Stearns’ WTA Finals have come on clay (she reached the Copa Colsanitas final in 2023 and won in Rabat last year). She moves well and the slower surfaces afford her the time to set up that wonderful forehand.
The Verdict: Stearns to win in straight sets at 2.1- Kalinskaya leads the head-to-head 1-0, with Stearns retiring while trailing in Beijing last year. I think that Stearns’ cannon of a forehand could be decisive here. She can hit it inside-out and should be able to keep Kalinskaya honest. Kalinskaya’s flat-hitting style could become quite one-dimensional on these surfaces, giving Stearns the opportunity to unload on that forehand wing.
