World No. 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek came back from a double-break down at 0-3 in the first set to overcome former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Italian Open.

The victory extended the 20-year-old Pole's winning streak to 25 matches, the longest since 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams ran off 27 straight wins between the WTA Finals in 2014 and the Madrid Open in 2015.

The 2020 French Open winner sets up a first ever meeting on tour against 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada in the last 8.

"I didn't start well, and everybody could see that," said Swiatek, "I'm really happy with the way I reacted and how I improved in the first set. Also, how different the second set looked to the first one because I could really reset and really change the way I played. That's the most positive thing for me."

Andreescu reached her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal since the 2021 Miami Open by defeating Croatia's qualifier Petra Martic 6-4, 6-4.

Earlier on Friday, third-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka captured her third straight win over No.13 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States 6-1, 6-4 in a dominant power display to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in Rome.

Tunisian Ons Jabeur extended her career-best winning streak to nine by defeating Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16. Last week's Madrid Open winner will face No. 4 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece in the quarterfinals.