Ana Ivanovic suffers dramatic Italian Open exit

Ana Ivanovic has suffered a dramatic second-round defeat at the Italian Open to world number 78 Daria Gavrilova.

The former Roland Garros winner saved seven match points during the closely-fought contest, but that was not enough to stop Gavrilova advancing.

Both players shared four breaks between them in a unpredictable opening set before Ivanovic eventually came through 7-5.

Gavrilova raced into a 4-0 lead at the start of the second as the Russian looked on course to level the match. However, Ivanovic fought back to force a tie-break.

Despite the Serbian's resurgence giving her a chance to win the match in two sets, Gavrilova was dominant in the breaker, taking it 7-6(2).

Ivanovic staved off three matches points in the decider to bring up another tie-break, and the world number seven went on to defend four more as Gavrilova struggled to close out the contest.

While Ivanovic battled gallantly throughout the breaker, Gavrilova finally sealed her progress 5-7 7-6(2) 7-6(7) with over three hours on the clock.