Rome Masters: Wawrinka rattled, Sharapova out

German veteran Tommy Haas issued a reminder of his claycourt skills with a third-round victory over Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka at the Rome Masters on Thursday.

German veteran Tommy Haas issued a reminder of his claycourt skills with a third-round victory over Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka at the Rome Masters on Thursday.

Haas recovered after trailing by a set and a break of serve to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and reach the last eight at the Italian event for the first time since 2002 when he lost to Andre Agassi in the final.

Andy Murray closed out a win over Jurgen Melzer with his sixth ace for a 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 result.

On Wednesday, Frenchman Jeremy Chardy showed Roger Federer the door in the second round. Chardy won 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(6).

In the women’s Italian Open also being played at the Foro Italico, second seed Li Na snapped her career-long jinx against Australia’s Samantha Stosur, winning 6-3 6-1. Ana Ivanovic handed Maria Sharapova her first loss of the spring clay season as she beat the Russian eighth seed 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarters. Sharapova had won back-to-back titles in Stuttgart and Madrid, compiling a dozen straight victories.

Bops-Qureshi bow out
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi failed to go past Mike and Bob Bryan, losing 5-7, 1-6 to the American twins in the second round. They split euro 11080 and earned 90 ATP ranking points each.