Serb pair Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic are on a French Open collision course after both notched up comfortable wins yesterday to reach the quarter-finals.
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 (7/3).
One more win for each and they will face off against each other in the semi-finals.
PHOTO: EPA
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 glamor stakes, won at a canter in a 54-minute long mismatch to underline her potential winner status.
In four straight sets wins so far, she 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.
Ivanovic will play Patty Schnyder of Switzerland or Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the quarter-finals.
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 changeover 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, the 2006 junior champion at Roland Garros, rallied to win four games in a row with two breaks of serve to level at 5-5 and then forced a tie-break.
Jankovic made her greater experience tell and she comfortably won through 7/3.
She will next go up against 19-year-old Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro.
Suarez Navarro had too much power for Flavia Pennetta of Italy, winning 6-3, 6-2.
In the Junior Boys competition, Taiwan’s Yang Tsung-hua defeated Alexandre Foile of Belgium 6-4, 7-5.
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