Ivanovic out of 2008 Rome Open 

Maria Sharapova moved a step closer to claiming first place in the WTA rankings yesterday, defeating Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the third round of the 2008 Rome Open. Sharapova was made to fight all the way by her talented adversary, and survived having her serve broken six times.

Neither of the Williams sisters had any difficulty advancing to the third stage of the 2008 Rome Open, continuing their promising build up to the 2008 French Open by wiping their opponents off the court.

5th seed Serena Williams annihilated Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-0, while Venus Williams was in equally imperious form as she sent Samantha Stosur packing 6-4, 6-1. Venus William’s performance was particularly impressive given that it was her first WTA match in just over a month.

The day also produced the 2008 Rome Open first major upset, as 2nd seed Ana Ivanovic was defeated by Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Other results saw third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova defeat Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-0, while defending champion Jelena Jankovic defeated crowd favorite Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-4. 6th seed Anna Chakvetadze required three sets to defeat Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 3-6, 7-6, 6-0.