Not since 2011 had Maria Sharapova lost on clay to an opponent other than Serena Williams. Not since 2005 had she lost in Rome, although this streak was slightly misleading because she had played the event only five times since then. Sharapova also had won her last seven meetings with Ana Ivanovic over the last seven years and rode a 12-match winning streak into Thursday's third-round encounter after sweeping titles in Stuttgart and Madrid.

But, despite what seemed like long odds, Ivanovic had reason to hope for an upset in the most recent edition of this glamorous rivalry. Last month in Stuttgart, she had burst out to an early lead against Sharapova and dominated most of the first set and a half before the Russian regrouped. She also had grown more consistent this spring, having reached the quarterfinals or better at her last three tournaments. Ivanovic would make this streak four in a row as she cut short all of Sharapova's impressive statistics with one emphatic blow.

Just as she had in Stuttgart, Ivanovic raced into an early lead. This time, she finished what she started by breaking Sharapova in five of eight return games while dropping her own serve just twice. The surprisingly lopsided encounter ended in less than 80 minutes as Ivanovic devastated the Russian's second serve, winning nearly three-quarters of the points played on it. She protected her own second serve more effectively, winning the majority of those points, and that dispairty between the two former No. 1s played a key role in the outcome.

Having won two-thirds of the key clay non-majors at Stuttgart and Madrid, Sharapova may have brought less than her usual level of intensity to pursuing a third Rome crown. She certainly looked vulnerable in her second-round victory over qualifier Monica Puig, and her competitive appetite may have been sated by last week's exploits. That said, Ivanovic deserves applause for her fourth win over a top-10 player in a WTA event this year and her fifth over a current or former No. 1. Those achievements, which also included a victory over Serena Williams at the Australian Open, have impressed even more than her two small titles claimed in 2014 by showing her ability to compete with the elite again. 

Arguably more surprising was the setback suffered by Stanislas Wawrinka against Tommy Haas. While his ranking remains high enough for a top-16 at this Masters 1000 event, Haas has struggled with injuries throughout the year and had lost to qualifiers at his last two tournaments. Clay arguably is his least effective surface, whereas Wawrinka has identified it as his best. The Australian Open champion thus will have felt especially disappointed to have won one total match at the marquee events in Madrid and Rome. Wawrinka won the first set on Thursday, as he had in his Madrid loss, but he secured only five games over the last two sets as his first-serve percentage dwindled below 50 percent. An enigmatic season of extreme highs and extreme lows has seen him win two of the sport's biggest titles in Melbourne and Monte Carlo while failing to reach the quarterfinals at four of the first five Masters 1000 tournaments in 2014.

Most of the other women's seeds in early action on Thursday advanced more routinely. World No. 2 Li Na and world No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska overcame a pair of opponents with significant clay expertise in Samantha Stosur and Francesca Schiavone, respectively. Li now has reached the quarterfinals or better at each of the last four Premier Mandatory or Premier Five tournaments after yielding just four games to Stosur. Radwanska, whose results on clay have surpassed expectations this year, dismissed former Roland Garros champion Schiavone for the loss of five games. She now will seek to become the only woman to reach the semifinals at both Madrid and Rome. Former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic also cruised past home hope Flavia Pennetta without much suspense.

Plenty of suspense enshrouded top-ranked man Rafael Nadal as he returned to the court less than 24 hours after playing the longest best-of-three ATP match this year. Gilles Simon had kept Nadal on court for 199 minutes last night, and Mikhail Youzhny looked set to reap the benefits. After Nadal failed to serve out the first set at 5-4, Youzhny pounced to claim that set in a tiebreak and jump out to an early lead in the second set. Just as murmurs of an upset started to swirl, though, Nadal righted the ship in the most convincing fashion imaginable. The world No. 1 reeled off 12 of the last 13 games from that stage to book a quarterfinal spot opposite Andy Murray. Still, Nadal needed two hours and 44 minutes on court to advance, running his total from the past two days to over six hours and placing a heavy burden on his fitness moving forward.

After a minor upset over Tomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov may be the most compelling pre-final threat to the Spaniard. Dimitrov rallied from losing the first set to avenge a loss when he faced Berdych just last week in Madrid. He has won a set on all four occasions that he has faced Nadal, including a clay match in Monte Carlo last year, and claimed his first clay title this spring. If Dimitrov solves Haas, while Nadal dispatches Murray, an intriguing semifinal could unfold. But neither man can look too far ahead, considering the strong form of their opponents this week.'