Women's seeds continue to drop in Rome; Federer falls; Azarenka talks back pain. (AP Photo)
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In Rome, more top women’s seeds fell on Wednesday, with Madison Keys sweeping past No. 5 seed Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-4, in their second-round match. Sixth-seeded Simon Halep, who just won Madrid, lost at the hands of Daria Gavrilova. Eugenie Bouchard scored her first Top 10 win since 2014 with her triumph over No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber, and she opened up about getting a grip on her diet. Gavrilova's run wouldn’t last long, as she fell to Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday. Four women’s seeds remain in the draw: No. 1 Serena Williams, No. 3 Garbine Mugurza, No. 9 Kuznetsova and No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky.
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Roger Federer expressed a lack of concern after his 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss to Dominic Thiem in Rome on Thursday. After winning his match the previous day over Alexander Zverev, Federer admitted he almost didn’t play due to his recent back injury, and is taking “baby steps.” On Thursday, the 34-year-old said, “I knew I wasn’t good enough for any result here, so that’s why I hope you don’t read into it so much, and I don’t.” Federer will drop back to No. 3 with the French Open beginning on May 22.