Serbs hit hat trick, Nadal grinds on

PARIS: Serbia hogged the French Open limelight on Sunday when first Ana Ivanovic raced and then Jelena Jankovic hobbled into the quarterfinals before Novak Djokovic hammered another nail in the coffin of home hopes.

As the Serb trio continued to scythe through the field, a merciless Rafael Nadal extended his unbeaten streak at Roland Garros to a jaw-dropping 25 matches.

But play was suspended by rain yesterday. At the time play was stopped, world No 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland was leading France's Julien Benneteau 6-4, 7-5 in a fourth round match, and women's top seed Maria Sharapova, was leading fellow Russian Dinara Safina 7-6, 0-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

Second seed Ivanovic played with the urgency of a woman late for a lunch appointment as she ruthlessly dismantled Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-0, 6-0 in 54 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.

While Ivanovic's win was painfully easy, Jankovic's was just downright painful.

Jankovic needed a 10-minute medical time-out after game three of the second set against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska before she crawled past the finishing line with a 6-3 7-6 victory over the 14th seed.

"The whole arm is a mess," said Jankovic, who resembled a wrestler pinned to the floor as the tournament trainer massaged her neck and shoulder back to life.

"I started to feel the pain in the beginning of the second set and since then it's been pain, pain, pain," said the 23-year-old, who will next face Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

No mercy

The Paris crowd had barely got through the scrum at the turnstiles as Ivanovic, who by each passing minute looks like improving on her runner-up finish of last year, showed no mercy against the lamentable Cetkovska.

The unseeded Czech, who had not dropped a set in the tournament, looked like a decent threat going on a high-quality opening rally, but once Ivanovic got her eye in she folded quicker than a broken deckchair.

"It was much tougher than it probably looked, or the result indicates," said a generous Ivanovic, who has lost a paltry 15 games at Roland Garros so far this year.

"I had to work really hard, and I played almost without mistake today." She now plays Swiss 10th seed Patty Schnyder.

Fernando Verdasco became the latest casualty on Nadal's apparently unstoppable route to a fourth consecutive crown.

Even the match umpire was starting to sound bored rigid with announcing "Jeu Nadal", as the 22nd-seeded Verdasco, the fourth left-hander the champion has faced this year, went down 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 in under two hours.

Nadal now faces Nicolas Almagro in the last eight in a match scheduled for the champion's 22nd birthday on Tuesday.

"If I win, it's going to be a beautiful birthday present," the Mallorcan said.

"I don't mind finishing early or at lunchtime, or like today in the evening. At the end of the day, if the result is positive, it's going to be a beautiful day. And if it's not, well, too bad."

Third seed Djokovic was in no mood to let Paul-Henri Mathieu put him off his mission of a first Roland Garros title.

He swept past the French 18th seed 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and now faces his childhood training partner Ernests Gulbis of Latvia for a place in the semis.

"He was destroying me in practice. I couldn't win a match," the Australian Open champion joked with reporters on hearing his next opponent would be Gulbis, like the Serb a product of the Niki Pilic academy in Munich.

"He's a favorite. I will play with no responsibility, nothing to lose. We know each other on and off the court. Crazy experiences off the court as well. He's a great guy."

Gulbis is the only Latvian ever to grace the grand slam stage and the 19-year-old did the Baltic state proud by silencing the partisan crowd on Court Suzanne Lenglen with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 win over Frenchman Michael Llodra.

In yeserday's matches, Chile's Fernando Gonzalez ended American hopes of a singles winner at Roland Garros when he beat Robby Ginepri 7-6, 6-3, 6-1 for a place in the quarterfinals.

In the women's draw, seventh seed Elena Dementieva won an error-strewn battle of attrition against fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 1-6 ,6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.

There were 11 breaks of serve in their 25 games and the pair conjured up 78 unforced errors between them before Dementieva prevailed to book a place against another Russian, either Sharapova or Safina, the 13th seed.

"I feel like I'm playing a Russian championship not Roland Garros," said Dementieva, who will be playing her third Russian opponent in the last eight.

Agencies

(China Daily 06/03/2008 page24)