Italian Open: Johanna Konta loses to Jelena Ostapenko in Rome

British number one Johanna Konta was knocked out of the Italian Open on her 27th birthday by French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko.

Latvian fifth seed Ostapenko, 20, recovered from losing the first set to win the last-16 match 2-6 6-3 6-4 in Rome.

Defeat was world number 22 Konta's fifth in a succession against a top-10 player.

Ostapenko will play Maria Sharapova or Daria Gavrilova in the quarter-finals.

Konta raced away with the opening set, breaking Ostapenko's serve twice to lead 4-1 after only 17 minutes, then serving out.

She had blown a first-set lead in her three previous matches against top-10 players, and the same pattern followed against the world number six.

Ostapenko soon rediscovered the form which helped her claim a shock victory as an unseeded teenager at Roland Garros last year, landing some ferocious winners as Konta rarely failed to attack her serve in the second set.

Ostapenko broke Konta's serve early in a more evenly contested final set and, after Konta wasted a break point at 3-4 with a wild return, clinched victory in two hours 13 minutes with her first match point.

Romanian world number one Simona Halep was given a walkover into the quarter-finals as American Madison Keys withdrew because of a rib injury.

Reigning champion Elina Svitolina, from Ukraine, beat Russia's Daria Kasatkina 0-6 6-3 6-2.

She will play two-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber in the last eight after the German won 6-1 6-1 against Greece's Maria Sakkari.