WTA's leading trio Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep avoided slip-ups on Wednesday to book their spots in the Madrid Open quarter-finals.

 

World number one Osaka beat Belarus' Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2 6-3 to reach the Madrid last eight for the first time after number three Halep saw off Viktoria Kuzmova 6-0 6-0 in 45 minutes.

 

World number two Kvitova defeated Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-3.

 

The two-time Wimbledon champion now faces seventh seed Kiki Bertens.

 

Australian Open and US Open champion Osaka will have to overcome Swiss player Belinda Bencic while Halep will play Australian ninth seed Ashleigh Barty.

Halep is magnificent, congratulations! And she was not even at her best in this tournament, really. Only Serena and Sloane can beat her on clay, maybe also Kerber and Muguruza in their best days. Osaka has weapons, but no movement.

World number one Novak Djokovic moved into the Madrid Open quarter-finals by continuing his domination over France's Jeremy Chardy.

 

The 31-year-old Serb was eventually pushed by Chardy in the second set before earning a 6-1 7-6 (7-2) win.

 

Djokovic still has not dropped a set against the world number 47, having won all 13 of their meetings.

 

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will look to join Djokovic in the last eight later on Thursday.

1,200 career wins for Roger Federer.

 

What a man after beating Monfils at the Madrid Open.

 

 

Simona Halep continued her bid to regain the world number one ranking by beating Switzerland's Belinda Bencic to reach the Madrid Open final.

 

The world number three overcame a second-set fightback from 18th-ranked Bencic to win 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-0.

 

Romania's Halep, 27, will overtake Naomi Osaka at the top of the rankings if she wins the title.

 

She will play Kiki Bertens in Saturday's final after the Dutchwoman beat Sloane Stephens 6-2 7-5.

Dominic Thiem saved match points to end Roger Federer's clay-court return and reach the Madrid Open semi-finals.

 

Swiss Federer saved match points in his quarter-final on Thursday but squandered two of his own in the second-set tie-break against Thiem.

 

Austria's Thiem eventually came through 3-6 7-6 (13-11) 6-4 to set up a meeting with world number one Novak Djokovic.

Britain's Kyle Edmund has suffered his fourth straight first-round defeat, losing 6-4 4-6 6-2 to Spain's Fernando Verdasco at the Italian Open.

 

Since being knocked out in the second round of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last month, Edmund has lost in Monte Carlo, Munich, Madrid and Rome.

 

Ranked 14th in the world in October, the Englishman is now down at 27th.

American Nicole Gibbs has withdrawn from this month's French Open after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that was found by her dentist.

 

Gibbs, 26, said she was alerted to a growth on the roof of her mouth, with a subsequent biopsy coming back positive for salivary gland cancer.

 

The world number 117 will have surgery on Friday and said there is a "great prognosis" for this type of cancer.

 

She added she hopes to return for Wimbledon qualifying in June.

Britain's Johanna Konta will play American Sloane Stephens in the Italian Open second round after a straight-sets win over her compatriot Alison Riske.

 

Konta, 27, took fewer than 90 minutes to defeat Riske 6-4 6-1 in the first round in Rome.

Roger Federer has criticised Italian Open organisers for doubling ticket prices after it was confirmed he would play.

 

Federer, 37, is playing the clay-court season for the first time since 2016.

 

The number three seed, who has a first-round bye and will begin his tournament against Portugal's Joao Sousa, said the decision was "disappointing".

 

"They made it in a way like they rewarded the fans who bought tickets earlier, which is sort of strange."

 

Federer added: "I just really hope it doesn't take away the fact I'm really happy to be here. There's going to be good crowds hopefully, good atmosphere."

Former French Open champion Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from this year's tournament because of her long-standing shoulder problem.

 

The 32-year-old world number 35 has not played since pulling out of an event in her native Russia at the end of January and had a small operation in February.

 

"Sometimes the right decisions aren't always the easiest ones," the five-time Grand Slam winner said.

What can you say:

 

 

 

When two Queens of Hard Court and Grass meet. Victoria was fresher, Mugu extremely injured, coming for the French Open.

What can you say:

 

 

Never change Nick...

Never change Nick...

He makes McEnroe's tempers look much minor.....

The Lawn Tennis Association made a loss of £8.8m last year, and has lost more than £12m in two years.

 

This is despite British tennis' governing body getting a £7.2m increase in revenue from Wimbledon in 2018.

And more from Nick Kyrgios this time in regards to comments about Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/48293200

British number one Johanna Konta reached the Italian Open quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 win over Venus Williams - her second match of the day.

 

Konta, 27, came from a set down to beat world number eight Sloane Stephens before overcoming seven-time Grand Slam winner Williams, now ranked 50th.

 

Williams was hampered by injury and an assured Konta won in 72 minutes.

 

She will play Marketa Vondrousova in the last eight in Rome after the Czech beat Russian Daria Kasatkina.

Defending champion and eight-time winner Rafael Nadal beat fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-0 to reach the Italian Open semi-finals.

 

Nadal, who has lost in the semi-finals of his past four tournaments, came from 2-0 down to win in one hour 38 minutes.

 

He next faces 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas, who went through following the withdrawal of Roger Federer.

 

Johanna Konta beats Marketa Vondrousova in the quarter-final of the Italian Open.