Tough starts went to (1) Halep vs. the Azarenka-Osaka winner, (13) Keys vs. Pavlyuchenkova, (9) Stephens vs. the crafty Strycova, (3) Muguruza vs. the Gavrilova-Bellis winner, (16) Barty vs. Sharapova…

“I was expecting to lose in straight sets today. That was the mind-set going in, so to win in straights is actually a really big surprise to me. I played cautious, and I only decided after the warm-up that I was actually going to play. So for me it was a big match on many levels.”

Halep in the Saturday semifinals will face No. 10 seed Carla Suarez Navarro, who was an upset winner Friday over No. 4 seed and Madrid winner Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-2.

Serena’s draw to the semifinals could go through Stosur, last year’s finalist Errani then the former French champ Ivanovic to meet either Sharapova or Wozniacki in the semis…

“After Charleston I put my racquets down and wasn’t able to play anywhere for a while,” said Williams after playing her first match in more than a month due to illness, cruising past Annika Beck.

On the women’s side the talking points are — who is going to win this week? Because seemingly anybody can win. No one can maintain a roll.

“I am 23 and sure 17 is a very important number for me,” Nadal said.”There are some tournaments coming up – Madrid is coming up soon — and so I’m going to try to keep winning, but these tournaments are very difficult and some of the best players in the world are there…Probably I didn’t play as well as Monte Carlo. I played well, but not as well as Monte Carlo, but the important thing is winning.”

Wow, two unseeded former No. 1s in Henin and Ivanovic; lots o’ first-round meetings of interest…

Safina was 0-2 career against Williams, but the elder Williams sister could not hold on to a set and a break in the second lead. Safina leads Kuznetsova 7-5 in career meetings, but lost to her countrywoman last weekend in the Stuttgart final.

“Well, we all know who the real No. 1 is,” Williams said Monday in response to a question regarding her world No. 2 standing and Safina’s top spot. “Quite frankly, I’m the best in the world.”

“We both played aggressive,” Venus told the media. “She’s just going for every shot, for the lines. I was OK with the match being a little longer. I just I want to hit balls. In a way it’s not too bad to go three sets.”

“One of the most important of my career,” Nadal told reporters in regard to the Rome title. “Win in Rome is a a big title. I have right now 15 Masters 1000 in my career, so that’s a lot, and I’m very happy for that. Win here in Rome is always unbelievable.”

No. 12 seed Fernando “Gonzo” Gonzalez impressively broke his racquet in half over his knee in the first set before overcoming unseeded Austrian Jurgen “Tuna” Melzer 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Barcelona runner-up David Ferrer was another first-round casualty, losing a rain-delayed three-setter to France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu.

“I don’t know how I’m going turn it around,” Blake said. “I’ve played worse before and turned it around and had some good results — hopefully this time it’ll be the same. I’ll have some bad times and there will be plenty of ups too hopefully still after my career. If I don’t start playing better than I did today, I’ll be out (of the French Open) early though. I need to make some adjustments in the next three weeks.”