Summary Ana Ivanovic beat Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 to reach ATP-WTA Rome Masters quarter-finals.
ROME (AFP) - Ana Ivanovic handed Maria Sharapova her first loss of the spring clay season as she beat the Russian eighth seed 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP-WTA Rome Masters.
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."
Ivanovic, the 2008 Roland Garros winner and world number one, had won just two of ten previous meetings with the four-time grand slam champion, the last seven years ago at a Roland Garros semi-final.
The Serb next plays Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
