Serb pair Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic are on a French Open collision course after both notched up comfortable wins yesterday to reach the quarterfinals
Second seed Ivanovic blanked Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-0 while third seed Jankovic outplayed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-3, 7-6 (3).
One more win for each and they will face off against each other in the semifinals
The Belgrade pair are both seeking their country's first Grand Slam title in women's tennis on the back of Novak Djokovic's breakthrough win for the men at the Australian Open in January.
The 20-year-old Ivanovic, who is starting to rival Maria Sharapova in the glamour stakes, won at a canter in a 54-minute mismatch to underline her potential winner status.
In four straight-sets wins so far, the Belgrade beauty has dropped just 15 games as she bids to go one better than last year in Paris where she lost badly to the now retired Justine Henin in the final.
"It was much harder than it actually looked," she said.
"I played almost without a mistake. She had a lot of chances, but I stepped up and I was really playing my game and making so few unforced errors. I feel very confident going onto the next round."
Ivanovic will play either Patty Schnyder of Switzerland or Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the quarterfinals.
She is one of three players who can dislodge Sharapova from the world No 1 spot in Paris, the others being fellow Serb Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.
That situation came about following the sudden retirement of Henin, who had enjoyed a healthy lead atop the rankings before she decided that she had had enough of competitive tennis just short of her 26th birthday.
Both Sharapova and fourth-seeded Kuznetsova play their fourth-round ties today.
Third-seeded Jankovic was too solid in the end for Polish youngster Radwanska, but she again had trouble with pain in her right arm and shoulder brought on, she says, by the heavy balls.
As in her second-round tie against Marina Erakovic, the 23-year-old needed extensive treatment at the change-over when she was 6-3 and 2-1 up with a break in her favor.
That seemed to work fine as on the restart she reeled off three straight games to take a commanding 5-1 lead.
Radwanska rallied to win four games in a row with two breaks of serve to level at 5-5, and then forced a tiebreak.
Jankovic made her greater experience in that and she comfortably won through 7/3.
She will next go up against 19-year-old Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-3, 6-2.
(AFP via China Daily June 2, 2008)