World No.2 Li Na defeated Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-1 on Thursday to reach the Rome Masters quarter-finals on a day of upsets which included defeats for Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, Maria Sharapova and Czech Tomas Berdych.
Stosur, a 2010 Roland Garros finalist, had beaten second seed Li in all six of their previous meetings since 2007. The victory was the Chinese star’s second straight over an Australian opponent after beating qualifier Casey Dellacqua in the previous round.
“In the last six matches, I tried to control the ball, but she was able to get a lot of chances,” said 32-year-old Li who set up a last-eight showdown with Italian 10th seed Sara Errani, who beat Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-3 7-6 (7-3).
In the men’s, Rafael Nadal continued to search for his best clay form, surviving a shaky start to reach the quarter-finals and a date with Andy Murray.
The top seed took almost three hours to beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-3.
Murray and Nadal have not played each other for more than two and a half years, when Murray beat the Spaniard in a 2011 Tokyo final.
Less than 24 hours after being severely tested by Gilles Simon, Nadal found himself in trouble against Youzhny, who last won a set against the world No.1 in 2008.
“Andy will be a very tough match, he’s playing well, but I’m confident I can do it,” said Nadal, who added that if he did not take his chances against the Scot he would be “spending the weekend (at home) in Mallorca.
“I’ve had two long matches and I had hoped not to be on the court for so long, but that’s the way it is.”
Murray, who quit Rome with back problems a year ago and eventually required surgery, closed out a welcome 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 win on his 27th birthday over Jurgen Melzer, advancing to his second straight clay quarter-final after Madrid a week ago.
Monte Carlo champion Wawrinka joined fellow Swiss Roger Federer on the scrapheap as back pain resulted in a 5-7 6-2 6-3 loss to 15th seed Tommy Haas.
Wawrinka said that after playing a match in the chill two days earlier, he started having back problems.
But experience told him it was not serious and should not affect his chances for Roland Garros, starting in 10 days.
“It was difficult to give the intensity. I know my back – I just need some rest; maybe two days is enough.”
Second seed Novak Djokovic came from a set down to beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6 6-2 6-1, while David Ferrer, Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic and Jeremy Chardy also reached the quarters. Dimitrov accounted for Berdych 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-2 and No.8 seed Raonic eliminated French 11th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.
Defending women’s champion Serena Williams brushed aside American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1 6-2.
Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska put out Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone 6-4 6-1 and sixth seed Jelena Jankovic beat Flavia Pennetta 6-2 6-3.
Spanish 13th seed Carla Suarez Navarro advanced over fourth-seeded Romanian Simona Halep on a walkover and Ana Ivanovic handed Russian eighth seed Sharapova her first loss of the spring clay season winning 6-1 6-4.
Sharapova had won back-to-back titles in Stuttgart and Madrid, compiling a dozen straight victories.
“I wasn’t sharp today but Ana played well,” said Sharapova. “I’m going to try to recover the next two or three days, settle down in Paris and get my body ready for a week of training.”
