1988 Italian Open – Women's singles

Steffi Graf was the defending champion but did not compete that year.

Gabriela Sabatini won in the final 6–1, 6–7, 6–1 against Helen Kelesi.

Seeds
A champion seed is indicated in bold text while text in italics indicates the round in which that seed was eliminated. The top eight seeds received a bye to the second round.


 * 1) 🇺🇸 Chris Evert (third round)
 * 2) 🇦🇷 Gabriela Sabatini (champion)
 * 3)  Claudia Kohde-Kilsch (third round)
 * 4) 🇧🇬 Katerina Maleeva (second round)
 * 5) 🇮🇹 Raffaella Reggi (quarterfinals)
 * 6) 🇮🇹 Sandra Cecchini (quarterfinals)
 * 7)  Sylvia Hanika (quarterfinals)
 * 8) 🇪🇸 Arantxa Sánchez (semifinals)
 * 9) 🇫🇷 Nathalie Tauziat (first round)
 * 10)  Isabel Cueto (third round)
 * 11)  Jana Novotná (first round)
 * 12) 🇺🇸 Kathleen Horvath (first round)
 * 13) 🇦🇹 Judith Wiesner (semifinals)
 * 14) 🇨🇦 Helen Kelesi (final)
 * 15) n/a
 * 16) n/a