Rafael Nadal produced an incredible comeback on Thursday to defeat a brilliant Denis Shapovalov, a result sending the world No.3 into the Rome quarterfinals.
Nadal saved two match points in the 12th game of the third set to eventually beat the young Canadian 3-6 6-4 7-6(3), keeping alive his campaign for a 10th Rome Masters trophy.
He will next face Alexander Zverev, who produced a similar fightback to beat former world No.4 Kei Nishikori.
Zverev defeated Nadal last week in the Madrid Open quarterfinals en route to his fourth career ATP Masters title.
In the women’s draw, Coco Gauff stunned in-form Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka to set up a quarterfinal clash with world No.1 Ash Barty, who won her 27th match of the year after beating Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 6-3.
Also progressing to the last eight were top-10 stars Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova.
Comebacks galore
It was unlikely that Thursday’s action would match the drama and shocks which unfolded on Wednesday at the Foro Italico.
Yet it did.
Shapovalov, a Rome semifinalist last year, led Nadal 6-3 3-0 and by 3-1 in the third set.
Nishikori surged ahead of Zverev 6-4 3-1 and then built a 4-1 lead in the final set.
No.4 seed Dominic Thiem led Lorenzo Sonego 5-3 in the third set and earned a match point in the ninth game.
Czech Barbora Krejcikova led reigning Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek by a set and 2-0, and held two match points late in the second set.
And Angelique Kerber jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the final set against Jelena Ostapenko.
Yet all five of those players lost those leads, and ultimately, those matches.
“To be able to win these kinds of matches against young players gives me confidence with my body," Nadal said after sealing his triumph in almost three-and-a-half hours.
"It's true that I have to do things better for tomorrow. But the main thing today for me is recover physically.”
Gauff continues stellar week
Amid all of those epic encounters, perhaps the biggest shock of the day was Gauff’s 7-5 6-3 win over Sabalenka.
Sabalenka had risen to world No.4 following her triumph last week at the Madrid Open, and entered the match with an 11-1 record on clay this year, yet the 17-year-old American snapped Sabalenka's seven-match winning streak to reach her third quarterfinal of the season.
There she will face Barty for the first time as she attempts to notch her fourth career top-10 win.
"It's one of those matches that for me as a fan, if I were to be able to watch myself play, that would be a match that I would want to watch," Gauff said of her battle with Sabalenka. "She brings the intensity on the court from the first point. I have to make sure that I manage that and bring even more intensity."
Svitolina, a two-time Rome champion, dismissed Garbine Muguruza 6-4 6-2 and will take on Swiatek, who ultimately survived Krejcikova 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 to take her place in the quarters.
Ninth seed Pliskova ended the run of qualifier Vera Zvonareva 7-5 6-3 and will take on the resurgent Ostapenko, who rebounded to beat Kerber 4-6 6-3 6-4 – sealing the win with her 51st winner.
Has only dropped 1 set so far ?@JelenaOstapenk8 survives after a three-set battle against Kerber!#IBI21 pic.twitter.com/ohwijGik1q
— wta (@WTA) May 13, 2021
Ostapenko, a French Open champion in 2017, beat Pliskova in the second round at Roland Garros last year.
In other results, Petra Martic and Jessica Pegula beat Nadia Podoroska and Ekaterina Alexandrova respectively and will play in an all-unseeded quarterfinal.
Djokovic, Tsitsipas set quarterfinal clash
World No.1 Djokovic was one of the first players to advance on Thursday, routing qualifier Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2 6-1.
Djokovic, a five-time champion in Rome, will meet Stefanos Tsitsipas in a blockbuster quarterfinal after the Greek ended the charge of Rome-born Matteo Berrettini.
Berrettini led 3-1 in the first set tiebreak before the in-form Tsitsipas roared back to win the next six points, and then the match – his 29th victory of 2021 which improves his season record on clay to 12-2.
"I see this as an opportunity for me to do something better this time (against Djokovic)," said Tsitsipas, who stretched the Serb to five sets in last year's Roland Garros semifinals.
A 15th quarter-final in 15 Rome appearances! ?
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 13, 2021
Five-time champion @DjokerNole defeats Davidovich Fokina 6-2 6-1 in 70 minutes.#IBI21 pic.twitter.com/zwhzsfIpNQ
"I hope to be able to play the same tennis that I have been playing so far and be a challenge for him.”
Sonego went on to beat Thiem 7-5 in the final-set tiebreak; the lone Italian remaining in the singles draws will next take on No.7 seed Andrey Rublev, a 6-4 6-4 victor against Roberto Bautista Agut.
Qualifier Federico Delbonis upset Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets and will in the quarterfinals face Reilly Opelka, who stopped AO 2021 semifinalist Aslan Karatsev 7-6(6) 6-4.