Rome, Italy – Former world No. 1s Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Venus Williams were among those recording third-round victories Thursday at the $2.168 million Italian Open tennis event, a clay-court French Open tune-up.
The reigning Rome champion Sharapova got past 13th-seeded fellow former top- ranked star Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 to set-up a quarterfinal showdown with another former No. 1, Venus. The Serbian Ivanovic is a former French Open champ.
The three-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova is 3-3 lifetime against the seven-time major titlist Venus, who has won their last two encounters. The two women haven't played each other since 2009, and the Russian hasn't beaten the American since 2007.
Fresh off her clay-court title in Madrid last week, the ninth-seeded Serena held her serve throughout in whipping Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-1 in 76 minutes, while the wild card Venus upset fifth-seeded Aussie Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-3 at Foro Italico. Venus and Stosur combined for 10 service breaks, including six for the American victor.
Venus was the Rome champion back in 1999 and runner-up in 1998.
Stosur, who stunned Serena in last year's U.S. Open finale, was last year's Italian Open runner-up to Sharapova.
The 2002 Rome champion Serena, now 16-0 on clay this year, upset current world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in last week's finale on the controversial blue clay in Madrid. Azarenka pulled out of this Roman event on Wednesday night, citing a right shoulder injury. The Belarusian star exited the draw after posting a 55-minute second-round win against Israeli Shahar Peer.
Serena's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be heavy Italian crowd favorite Flavia Pennetta.
Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova held off Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 on Day 4. The formidable Czech will face rising German Angelique Kerber on Friday. Kvitova beat Kerber in a quarterfinal in Stuttgart last month.
Eighth-seeded Chinese star Li Na moved on with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory over South African Chanelle Scheepers in just over an hour-and-a-half.
The reigning French Open champ Li will face 14th-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova in the quarters. Cibulkova reached the round of eight via walkover when Azarenka pulled out on Wednesday night.
In other third-round play, a 12th-seeded Kerber handled fellow German Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-1 and Pennetta dismantled Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-0, 6-1.
The 2012 Rome titlist will collect $385,000.
