Bitter news for the organizers of the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome: Both Petra Kvitova and Elina Svitolina will not start at the prestigious clay court event in the Foro Italico. The exact reasons for the absence of the two players are not known.

Svitolina had announced a break from tennis at the end of March due to back problems and the events in her home country Ukraine . At the French Open in Paris, the 29-year-old, who was eliminated in round two of her last tournament appearance in Miami, is still on the entry list.

This also applies to Kvitova, who surprisingly lost 3: 6 and 5: 7 to the Swiss Jil Teichmann in Madrid. The beneficiary of her cancellation is Ajla Tomljanovic, who now avoids the detour via qualification in Rome.