Rising Argentine star Nadia Podoroska added another name to a growing list of big career wins when she defeated American star Serena Williams 7-6(6), 7-5 in the second round of the Italian Open on Wednesday. It was the 1,000th Tour match of Serena.

Using the entire clay-court repertoire -- from heavy topspin forehands to sliding defence -- that brought her to the French Open semi-finals last October, the world No. 44 took one hour and 58 minutes to get past 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena.

Serena Williams Wimbledon
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 14, 2018 Serena Williams of the U.S. waves after losing the women's singles final against Germany's Angelique Kerber.REUTERS

The victory over world No.8 Serena was Nadia's third career win over a top-10 player, all in the last eight months.

World No. 5 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine survived a barrage of power to turn around her match with Amanda Anisimova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 while American Coco Gauff held off a fight-back from No.17 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece to win 6-1, 1-6, 6-1.

Elina will next face world No. 12 Garbine Muguruza of Spain, who overcame nine double faults and came from a double break down in the third set to quell qualifier Bernarda Pera 2-6, 6-0, 7-5 on Tuesday.

Coco will take on the No. 5 seed from Belarus Aryna Sabalenka after the Madrid Open champion triumphed over Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain 7-5, 6-1.