Veteran Haas shocks Wawrinka

German veteran Tommy Haas issued a reminder of his claycourt skills with a third-round victory over Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka at the Rome Masters on Thursday.

Haas recovered after trailing by a set and a break of serve to win 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and reach the last eight at the Italian event for the first time since 2002 when he lost to Andre Agassi in the final.

In the women’s Italian Open also being played at the Foro Italico, second seed Li Na snapped her career-long jinx against Australia’s Samantha Stosur, winning 6-3, 6-1 having lost their previous six meetings.

The 36-year-old Haas, who reached the French Open quarterfinals last year for the first time in his career, produced some inspirational tennis to frustrate Wawrinka.

Third seed Wawrinka, champion in Monte Carlo this year and fancied for a strong run at the French Open later this month, became involved in a dispute with the umpire early in the second set and his form tailed off.

Haas next plays Tomas Berdych or Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals.

Also through is big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic who saw off Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6, 6-4.

Bopanna-Qureshi exit

Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi yet again failed to go past the formidable team of Mike and Bob Bryan as they lost in straight sets to the American brothers in the second round of the doubles event.

The unseeded Indo-Pak combination suffered a 5-7, 1-6 defeat against their top seeded rivals.

India’s challenge is still alive as Sania Mirza and Cara Black have reached the quarterfinals of the women’s event being held simultaneously.

The fifth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair recorded a 6-3, 6-4 win over Daniela Hantuchova and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in one hour and 70 minutes in the second round.