ROME -- Canada's Milos Raonic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Thursday to reach the Italian Open quarter-finals.
Raonic, the No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., won five of the last six points in the first-set tiebreaker. He picked up a break in the second set en route to his first career victory over the 11th-seeded Frenchman.
Tsonga outlasted Raonic in a marathon match at the London Olympics in 2012 and beat him again last year at Indian Wells.
Raonic hit seven aces and saved five break point chances on the red clay courts at the Foro Italico. He'll make his fourth Masters 1000 Series quarter-final appearance of the season Friday against Jeremy Chardy of France.
Chardy, who upset Roger Federer of Switzerland in the second round, advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Croatia's Ivan Dodig. Raonic has yet to reach a semifinal this year.
Also Thursday, the seemingly ageless Tommy Haas upset third-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals. The oldest player in the draw at 36, Haas used his expertise and heavy topspin to give Wawrinka trouble.
Haas hadn't beaten a top-10 player since taking out then No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Miami more than a year ago.
"These things don't happen too often anymore so I still take them and I'm really proud of them," the German said.
Wawrinka cited a back injury that occurred in colder conditions during his opening win over Spanish qualifier Pere Riba.
"I couldn't move too well," he said. "It's really nothing serious. It's just painful and I need some rest -- maybe a few days."
In the women's tournament, 11th-seeded Ana Ivanovic took out two-time Rome champion Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-4.
Second-seeded Li Na defeated Australian veteran Sam Stosur 6-3, 6-1 and will next meet 10th-seeded Sara Errani of Italy, who kept the crowd content by beating Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 7-6 (3).
And third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska eliminated Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-1.
The 15th-seeded Haas broke Wawrinka to take a 5-3 lead in the third set with a series of deep spinning shots which eventually prompted Wawrinka to miss a forehand.
Haas then served it out with an ace down the middle on his first match point.
Haas committed just 17 unforced errors to Wawrinka's 40.
Wawrinka has had a solid year by winning the Australian Open and the Monte Carlo Masters but he also had an early exit in last week's Madrid Open -- leaving his form in question as he enters Roland Garros in 10 days.
Haas was a Rome finalist in 2002, losing the title match to Andre Agassi.
"He's a really good player," Wawrinka said. "He has a good serve, he can come to the net and he has touch. We all know how he (plays). He's been there for a while."
