Williams sees off Konta to reach Rome quarterfinals
ROME: Venus Williams powered into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Thursday with a dominant 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 victory over fifth seed Johanna Konta. Williams, who had lost her last three encounters with the British No 1 , showed no signs of nerves as she dictated play from baseline and broke Konta twice in the first set.
Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, who defeated world No 1 Angelique Kerber on Wednesday, continued to build momentum with a 6-1, 6-1 win over 16thseed Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Simona Halep marched past Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 in the other third-round clash. The Romanian will face Kontaveit in quarterfinals.
WAWRINKA FALLS , DJOKOVIC IN QUARTERS
ROME: Third seed Stan Wawrinka became the latest high-profile casualty at the Italian Open on Thursday when the Swiss was knocked out in the third round by American John Isner. Isner took his ace count to 72 in three rounds as he powered past Wawrinka 7-6(1), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. It was his first claycourt win against a top-10 player at an ATP Tour event and his reward is a clash with Croatia’s Marin Cilic who beat David Goffin 6-3, 6-4.
World No 2 Novak Djokovic continued to look more like his old self after a slump as he saw off Spanish claycourter Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-4, 6-4 on Court Centrale to reach the quarters for an 11th successive year.
There was disappointment for home fans as Fabio Fognini, who beat top seed Andy Murray on Tuesday, was outplayed 6-3, 6-3 by Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
Fognini failed to reproduce the sparkling form that did for Murray and blew his top in the second set over a line call, arguing with umpire Mohamed Lahyani.
SHARAPOVA GETS WILDCARD
LONDON: Former world No 1 Maria Sharapova has been handed a wildcard to the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Birmingham in June, Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association said on Thursday. The Aegon Classic in Birmingham has offered Sharapova the chance to fine-tune her grasscourt game after she committed to appear there next year as well. “We have received a twoyear commitment from one of the most famous athletes in the world, Maria Sharapova, to play the Aegon Classic,” LTA Chief Executive Michael Downey said.
“In return we are providing Maria with a main draw wildcard for this year. This wasn’t a decision we took lightly...not everyone will agree with it.”