May 19 2017

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Rising Australian tennis star Daria Gavrilova beats Svetlana Kuznetsova in Italian Open

Daria Gavrilova has emerged as Australia's biggest French Open hope after upsetting former Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to storm into the Italian Open quarter-finals.

Gavrilova's 2-6 7-5 6-4 victory over Russia's two-time grand slam champion secured the 23-year-old a last-eighth meeting with 15th seed Kiki Bertens.

Plays of the week: Skills versus dramatic ...

Plays of the week: Skills versus dramatic finishes

Outrageous shots, unbelievable skill and some crazy climaxes, these are the plays of the week.

Plays of round 6

Dangerfield sets the standard, Tiges lose again at the death, Eddie banks another GOTY contender, Bucks bark sparks Pie revival and North run and carry undoes the Dees.

Dockers into top eight

After a wet start Fremantle pulled away from Carlton in the second-half to win by 35 points.

Bernie Vince goes down

Ben Cunnington took his frustrations out on Bernie Vince, sending the Demons star crashing to the turf with a gut punch.

Kangaroos hold off Demons

North Melbourne have notched their third win of the season, defeating Melbourne 104-90 at the MCG.

Essendon crush West Coast

The bombers took the Eagles to task at Etihad stadium, dominating them from the outset to win by 61 points.

Collingwood stun Hawks in comeback

Down by 37 at quarter time and still winners at the end is an incredible story but to do so on the night they honoured a fallen legend in Lou Richards only added to the glory the Magpies achieved against the Hawks

Tigers hearts broken at death again

GWS won in the dying stages again as Richmond suffered another heartbreaking loss for the second week in a row.

Plays of the week: Skills versus dramatic finishes

Outrageous shots, unbelievable skill and some crazy climaxes, these are the plays of the week.

With former French Open runner-up and four-times semi-finalist Samantha Stosur struggling to find her clay court form and Nick Kyrgios under an injury cloud after a fine run on hard courts, Gavrilova looms as Australia's best chance to make a deep run in Paris.

The 23-year-old will be seeded at Roland Garros for the first time after reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open for the second year in a row and continuing her strong form on clay.

Bertens beat Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 to confirm her date with Gavrilova.

In-form sixth seed Simona Halep could be waiting for Gavrilova in the semi- finals after holding off Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 4-6 6-0 in her third-round match.

"I feel great. I feel my game, I feel strong on court, my legs are strong, (I'm) mentally strong, so I feel good on court," said last week's Madrid champion.

"Because of the confidence. I feel every shot I hit; I feel every ball. It doesn't matter where I am on court. I just feel good, and I have confidence that I can return the ball pretty well."

Ninth seed Venus Williams, the 1999 champion, ended the run of British third seed Johanna Konta 6-1 3-6 6-1.

"I love this tournament, and I love Rome. It's one of my favourite places on earth, so that's one of the reasons why I have always come here," said 36-year- old Williams.

"I've had a good amount of success here."

Williams next meets reigning French Open champion and third seed Garbine Muguruza, a 7-5 6-4 winner over Julia Goerges.

Estonian qualifier Anett Kontaveit, who beat top seed Angelique Kerber in the previous round, continued her success as she put out Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1 6-1.

- AAP