Italian Open: Nadal crashed out of the tournament and Djokovic enters the quarter-finals

The Canadian broke a four-game losing streak against the Spaniard and pocketed his second win in six meetings. Shapovalov made a comeback after a poor performance in the opening set and thrashed the 10-time Italian Open champion 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. After the win, the Canadian advanced to his sixth Masters 1000 quarterfinal where he will encounter Casper Ruud in the last eight on Friday.

The coast is clear for world number one Iga Swiatek

Meanwhile, world number one Iga Swiatek became only the ninth player since 2000 to win 25 consecutive matches after brushing past Victoria Azarenka at the Italian Open. She had a slow start but picked up the pace to clinch the match 6-4 6-1 against the Belarusian in the second round in Rome. The match that witnessed seven breaks of serve lasted one hour and 20 minutes.

Despite losing her serve again in the opening game of the second set, she resurfaced and regained her lead to set up a quarter-final with Canada's Bianca Andreescu. The 20-year-old Pole has been ruling over the WTA Tour in the past few months and has held her footing as she replaced Ashleigh Barty at the top of the rankings when the 25-year-old Australian announced her premature retirement in March. 

Zverev and Tsitsipas advance to the quarter-finals

Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Open on Thursday, which has increased their chances of setting up a last-four clash against each other. World number three Zverev defeated Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) in the early match on center court at the Foro Italico and is now expected to either meet Cristian Garin or Marin Cilic in the next round. The German looked unfazed in his match against Australian De Minaur despite being trounced by teenage phenomenon Carlos Alcaraz in the Madrid final on Sunday. 

Tsitsipas on the other hand, outclassed Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 and reached the quarter-finals. The next round will also include Felix Auger Aliassime, Jannik Sinner, Cristian Garín, and Casper Ruud for the men's draw. Other players in the WTA tour who qualified for the round of eight include Ons Jabeur, Maria Sakkari, Jil Teichmann, Aryna Sabalenka, Bianca Andreescu, Amanda Anisimova, and Daria Kasatkina.