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SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL

World No. 4 Ana Ivanovic clawed back from 2-5 down in the final set to reach the women's quarter-finals of the Sydney International with a three-set victory yesterday over France's Virginie Razzano.

The 20-year-old Serbian looked headed for an upset second-round defeat before she rallied to win 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 in just over two hours to set up a quarter-final with Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.

It proved a good day for the Serbian contingent with third seed Jelena Jankovic winning the late match against Tatiana Golovin of France 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

Ivanovic, who arrived in Australia well before Christmas to give herself the best preparation for next week's Australian Open, called her coach on to the court when she trailed 3-5 in the final set.

"I raised my game a little bit in the third set. I was a little bit nervous and anxious so I just looked for someone to calm me down and say, `OK, you're doing the right things, keep playing the same way,'" Ivanovic said.

"He helped me a lot to calm down and to assure me that I was still doing the right thing," she said.

Ivanovic, who had a stern workout in contrast to world No. 1 Justine Henin, who had a walkover into the Sydney quarters, said the match had given her confidence ahead of the Australian Open.

"I am coming into the new season looking for some tough matches and to get through them and win those matches," she said.

She added she had been practising for three weeks in Sydney with her Australian fitness coach and was fully acclimatized to the conditions.

Henin had a walkover when her Czech opponent Lucie Safarova succumbed to a leg injury and pulled out before the start of their match.

The Belgian top seed will next play Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, who won her second match at the tournament with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson, who knocked out Russian eighth seed Elena Dementieva in the opening round on Monday.

Italian Francesca Schiavone, who lost to Henin in the 2006 final, eliminated Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France after losing the opening set to come back and win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Slovenian Srebotnik also fought back from dropping the first set to beat Austria's Sybille Bammer 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

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