Italian Open: Djokovic beaten by Berdych while Sharapova Pulls out of Rome

It was a surprise day at Rome when world no.1 Serbian was beaten by Czech Tomas Berdych 2-6 7-5 6-4 to Czech in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia - Italian Open quarter-finals.

Djokovic was attempting to win his third Rome title, but has recently been troubled by pain in his ankle.

Rafael Nadal stayed on target for his third straight title as he beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-4 4-6 6-2.

Benoit  Paire, 24, reached the first Masters Series semi-final of his career with a 6-1 6-0 victory over Spaniard Marcel Granollers and now faces Roger Federer for a place in the Rome final. Meanwhile Federer beat Polish Jerzy Janowicz 6-4 7-6 (7-2) to move on.

Defeat of Djokovic and Murray earlier leaves only Nadal and Federer the top seeded players in the Rome.

Meanwhile the 2012 Roland Garros queen Russian Maria Sharapova's preparations for the French Open suffered a setback after she withdrew from the Italian Open because of illness. Maria was was due to play Sara Errani in Friday's quarter-finals.

This means world no.1 Serena Williams will not have to face Sharapova in the finals as she moved into the semi-finals with a 6-2 6-0 victory over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

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Robson loses to Serena Williams in Rome

Britain's Laura Robson's joy was short lived after she defeated Venus Williams in the first round of the Italian Open as Venus' younger sister struck her in the second round to avenge her sister's defeat.

World no.1  American Serena Williams, the younger sister of Venus, showed Robson the way out of ROme when she defeated her 6-2, 6-2 Tuesday.

Williams, 31, will play Melanie Oudin or Dominika Cibulkova in round three.

The defeat dents the 19-year-old Briton's hopes of being among the 32 seeds at this month's French Open.

In the meanwhile, there were surprise defeats for fourth seed Radwanska, 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki and 15th seed Ana Ivanovic at the Foro Italico. Simona Halep of Romania upset Radwanska 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-2, Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski inflicted a third straight defeat on Wozniacki, 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5), and Urszula Radwanska defeated Ivanovic, 6-3 2-6 6-2.

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