Rome Preview

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has been without its empress in recent months - ever since she won the Australian Open in January, in fact - but Serena Williams makes a welcome return to the courts this week as a wildcard at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

The 2002 champion of Rome and reigning world No.1 could hardly have chosen a tougher forum, though. Every single one of her Top 10 colleagues also feature in the $2,000,000 event's 56-strong draw. While Serena - who lost her opener here last year to Patty Schnyder - has been recuperating from injury there have been developments near the top, too.

Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki has risen to No.2 in the world, and is seeded second at the Foro Italico. After a first round bye she could face a difficult prospect in China's Zheng Jie, but will know that's exactly the sort of match she routinely needs to win to underline her status.

Dinara Safina, also sidelined since January with a back injury, made a decent return last week in Stuttgart where she beat Agnes Szavay before falling to her nemesis, Shahar Peer. The Russian is still seeded No.3 this week but as defending champion has plenty of points to defend.

Venus Williams, who fell to Safina in the semis here 12 months ago but won the title in 1999, is seeded fourth. Svetlana Kuznetsova, last year's runner-up, is seeded fifth while the top eight seedings are rounded out by Elena Dementieva at No.6, two-time champion Jelena Jankovic (2007, 2008) at No.7 and Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska at No.8.

A semifinalist last year, Victoria Azarenka is back as the No.9 seed, with in-form Aussie Samantha Stosur seeded tenth. Local hopes rest with two players also lurking dangerously in the second tier of seeds: No.12 seed Flavia Pennetta and No.13 seed Francesca Schiavone, who has a tough opener against Daniela Hantuchova.

As well as Serena, wildcards have been awarded to Italians Corinna Dentoni, Romina Oprandi and Maria Elena Camerin.

The recently-formed combination of Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova, who lifted the trophy at Charleston last month, headline the doubles field.