World No. 1
Amelie Mauresmo and
Maria Sharapova took the brunt of the star power out of the Internazionali d'Italia 2006 over the weekend, Mauresmo pulling with illness and Sharapova with a foot injury.
The Top 8 seeds, minus the world No. 1 and former Wimbledon champ now include
Kim Clijsters, last week's Berlin winner
Nadia Petrova, Russian
Elena Dementieva, Swiss
Patty Schnyder, Russian
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Italian
Francesca Schiavone.
Mary Pierce also withdrew from the event with a foot injury.
The lower of the 16 seeds include standouts
Venus Williams,
Anastasia Myskina and
Daniela Hantuchova.
Early-round matches of interest include No. 12
Nicole Vaidisova vs.
Martina Hingis in the 2nd round, No. 4 Petrova vs.
Alicia Molik in the 2nd round, No. 9 Williams vs. Czech comer
Lucie Safarova in the 2nd round, No. 13 Hantuchova vs. Prague runner-up Sam Stosur in her opener, and No. 2 Clijsters vs. Russian comer
Anna Chakvetadze in the 2nd round.
In last year's final the No. 2-seeded Mauresmo came from a set down to beat the No. 8-seeded Schnyder 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
