Rome, May 5, 2026, 14:19 CEST
- Bianca Andreescu took the opening set 6-4 against Sofia Kenin on Campo Centrale before Kenin led 1-0 in the second, live scoring showed. ( [1])
- Rome is the final WTA 1000 event before the French Open, with a 96-player singles draw and 1,000 ranking points for the champion. ( [2])
- Pre-match models and tip columns leaned Andreescu, though Kenin had won their Charleston meeting last month. ( [3])
Bianca Andreescu took the first set from Sofia Kenin at the Italian Open on Tuesday, giving the Canadian an early hold on a first-round match that preview sites had marked as one of the sharper tests on the opening day of the women’s main draw. Eurosport’s live board showed Andreescu up a set after 6-4, with Kenin ahead 1-0 in the second. ( [4])
It matters now because Rome is the last WTA 1000 before Roland Garros — a top-tier tour stop where the champion earns 1,000 ranking points — and clay form is running out of time to settle. The event runs May 5-17 at Foro Italico, with a 96-player singles draw and every player in the top 20 listed in the field. ( [5])
The official order of play put Kenin and Andreescu second on Campo Centrale after Barbora Krejcikova against Elsa Jacquemot. Andreescu entered on a wild card, meaning a main-draw place awarded by organisers rather than earned by ranking alone. ( [6])
The draw gives the winner little room to breathe. WTA’s draw analysis said Kenin-Andreescu was a notable first-round match and that the winner would face 12th seed Belinda Bencic, with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka also placed in the top quarter. ( [7])
The betting-market story was narrow, not emphatic. Dimers said its model ran 10,000 simulations and put Andreescu’s win probability at 53.3%, against 46.7% for Kenin, with moneyline odds listed at Andreescu -116 and Kenin +110. ( [8])
Last Word on Tennis writer Cizu Harbor called the match an “absolute coin flip” but picked Andreescu in three sets, citing the Canadian’s greater clay workload and slightly better season win count. He also noted Kenin had beaten Andreescu in straight sets at Charleston in April. ( [9])
College Sports Network writer Karan Tyagi also leaned Andreescu, recommending the Canadian on a -1.5 set spread at +154 and pointing to Andreescu’s 4-2 head-to-head lead. The same preview said Andreescu was 11-5 on clay this season, compared with Kenin’s 2-2 mark. ( [10])
But the case was not clean. Kenin beat Andreescu 6-4, 6-4 at the Credit One Charleston Open on clay on April 1, and the latest WTA singles rankings put Kenin at No. 74 with 922 points, well above Andreescu at No. 137 with 564 points. ( [11])
The match also carries name value beyond the rankings. Kenin’s WTA profile lists the 2020 Australian Open among her singles titles, while Andreescu’s profile lists the 2019 U.S. Open among her three WTA singles titles. Both players have had higher ceilings than their current rankings suggest. ( [12])
Krejcikova had already cleared the first match on Campo Centrale, beating Jacquemot 6-2, 6-4, while other first-round and qualifying matches continued across Foro Italico. That kept the Kenin-Andreescu match in the day’s main window, not buried on the outer courts. ( [13])
For Andreescu, the opening set backed the pre-match lean. For Kenin, the second-set break in the live board showed the match was not done, which is often the only useful warning in a first-round clay match between two players still trying to rebuild.
References
1. eurosport.tvn24.pl, 2. www.wtatennis.com, 3. www.dimers.com, 4. eurosport.tvn24.pl, 5. www.wtatennis.com, 6. wtafiles.wtatennis.com, 7. www.wtatennis.com, 8. www.dimers.com, 9. lastwordonsports.com, 10. collegefootballnetwork.com, 11. www.wtatennis.com, 12. www.wtatennis.com, 13. www.espn.com
