Ivanovic in final four at French Open

PARIS: Ana Ivanovic of Serbia moved within one match of her third Grand Slam final by defeating Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-3, 6-2 in the French Open quarterfinals on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old second seed lost to Justine Henin in straight sets in the final here last year and to Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final in January.

Playing in damp, overcast conditions, Ivanovic broke early to lead 2-0, but the 29-year-old 10th seed, playing in her 48th Grand Slam tournament and 13th straight at Roland Garros, hit back to level at 2-2.

Ivanovic was clearly the more powerful of the two with Schnyder looking to counter by moving the bigger woman around with her looping cross-court groundstrokes.

The Belgrade beauty took the first set 6-3 and she immediately broke to love in the opening game of the second, a deft drop shot winner doing the damage on break point.

Schnyder had three break points on the Ivanovic serve in the following game, but she could not convert any of them and when the Serb went 3-0, there was no way back for her opponent.

Following Monday's defeat of top seed Sharapova, Ivanovic is assured of taking the world No 1 spot for the first time if she lifts the title here on Saturday.

The second seed will play either fellow Serb and third seed Jelena Jankovic or Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro for a place in the final with the two playing later Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the quarterfinal line-up was completed when two fourth round matches held over from late Monday finished.

Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made it three Russians into the last eight wrapping up a 6-2, 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

The tie had been suspended overnight with the former US Open champion a set ahead and level 2-2 in the second set against the 18-year-old former world junior champion.

She wasted little time on the resumption and moved into a quarterfinal tie against the unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

Kanepi made it through to her first Grand Slam quarter-final with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in another tie left unfinished on Monday.

"No-one from the Estonia has ever made it to the quarter-finals for women so I am very pleased about that," she said.

"I have been believing in myself that I can beat the top players and I was hoping for a breakthrough sometime."

The two have not played each other on the senior stage, but underdog Kanepi will take heart from the fact that she defeated Kuznetsova in three sets to win the French Open junior girls title in 2001.

Kuznetsova though is in sparkling form dropping just 19 games on the way into the quarterfinals.

"So far I have had it easy for four rounds. I don't know if I have had so quick rounds. I didn't lose more than six games in the match," she said.

"I feel like I have matured as the years go by, and I'm just really enjoying myself here. But it's a box of surprises

AFP

(China Daily 06/04/2008 page24)