Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka have been shown a major disrespect by the Italian Open

Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka are set for a blockbuster round of 16 match-up at the Italian Open.

Both women have had their issues so far this season, but they’ve been impressive in reaching the latter stages of the clay court Masters event.

Swiatek has beaten Caty McNally and Elisabetta Cocciaretto to earn her place in the last 16, while Osaka has impressively defeated Eva Lys and Diana Schnaider.

The iconic pair currently share 10 Grand Slam titles between them, which makes it even more baffling that the Italian Open have placed them on the second biggest court in Rome.

Swiatek and Osaka are set to play their match on the BNP Paribas Arena instead of the Masters tournament’s main court of Campo Centrale.

The multi-time Grand Slam champions have been ousted from the main court by some strange match-ups too, which will likely rub salt into wounds.

While it is understandable that Jannik Sinner and Flavio Cobolli’s matches are on the main court, as they are home favourites in Italy, the WTA matches that have been picked instead of Swiatek and Osaka are incredibly strange.

Sorana Cirstea vs Linda Noskova was picked to open up the court, while Karolina Pliskova vs Elena Rybakina will close out the order of play.

Rybakina is currently the number two, but a match with Pliskova does not have the potential theatrics that Osaka and Swiatek’s fourth match on the WTA Tour could have.

The pair have played out three excellent matches previously, on some of the WTA Tour’s biggest stages.

Swiatek currently leads the head-to-head with Osaka thanks to two victories in the 2022 Miami Open final and the 2024 Roland Garros, both of which saw the Pole go on to lift the trophy.

Their only other meeting came at the 2019 Rogers Cup in Canada, when Osaka defeated Swiatek in straight sets to confirm a quarter-final place.

Players of the quality and history of Swiatek and Osaka absolutely deserve to be played out on main courts all over the world on the WTA Tour.

The pair will undoubtedly feel a little put out by their scheduling and they could enter the BNP Paribas Arena in Rome looking to prove a point.

Swiatek is looking to win her fourth Italian Open title this year, having lifted the trophy in 2021, 2022, and 2024. The Pole holds an 88% win rate at the Rome event, which makes it the second best Masters event of her career so far.

Osaka, meanwhile, is yet to win the Italian Open. The star’s best effort came in 2019, when she reached the quarter-finals for the first and only time.

The star defeated Dominika Cibulková and Mihaela Buzărnescu without dropping a set, before she was forced to withdraw from her last eight match with Kiki Bertens.