Rate it!

20 votes

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic was knocked out in the fourth round of the French Open, beaten 6-2 6-3 by Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka.

The Serb, who has been struggling with a right knee injury and played with black tape over the area, has suffered a dip in form since winning at Roland Garros last year and has slipped from number one to eighth in the world.

The ninth-seeded Azarenka, who has won three titles this year, took command after breaking in the third game and clinched the first set when Ivanovic's forehand clipped the netcord and bounced back into her side of the court.

The 19-year-old Belarussian surged to a 5-2 lead in the second before Ivanovic, her crown hanging by a thread, fought back with a couple of excellent passing shots and a dropshot to break.

Despite the crowd cheering "Ana, Ana", her resistance was short-lived as Azarenka served out the match to set up a quarter-final against world number one Dinara Safina, who continued to bulldoze her way through the draw by flattening France's Aravane Rezai 6-1 6-0.

Safina, who has now dropped only five games en route to the last eight, left a sunbathed Centre Court barely sweating after 53 minutes.

The Russian's impressive run falls just short of the record of Mary Pierce, who conceded four games en route to the Paris quarter-finals in 1994.

For a few minutes it seemed that Safina, gunning for a maiden Grand Slam title, would not have it all her way against Rezai.

The Frenchwoman had two break points in the third game but then ran into a brick wall as all her groundstrokes started rebounding back to her side of the court faster.

Safina shrugged off the first break point with a service winner and Rezai sent a backhand wide on the second.

The Russian, who has only lost once on clay this season, went on to break for 3-1 after benefiting from two double faults by Rezai.

Safina mixed her game with sliced backhands to further unsettle the world number 57 and broke again for 5-1 with a forehand down the line, following on serve to pocket the first set.

Rezai managed only nine points in the second set as Safina peppered the court with groundstroke winners and bagged another straightforward victory on her first match point when the Frenchwoman netted a backhand.

Earlier Slovak Dominika Cibulkova was the first woman to book a place in the last eight when she outwitted Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-2 6-4.

The 20th seed, who will be appearing in the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time, sealed victory over Venus Williams's conqueror with a sweetly struck forehand down the line after a long rally.

Cibulkova is the first Slovak to reach this stage of Roland Garros since Karina Habsudova in 1996.

The 20-year-old threw her racket up in the air in celebration after booking a date with Russian former world number one Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova kept her Grand Slam return going by beating China's Li Na 6-4 0-6 6-4.

The former world number one is on a comeback trail following a nine-month injury lay-off.

Sharapova, who has dropped to 102nd in the WTA rankings and has needed three sets to advance from each round, dropped serve twice but broke three times to take the opening set before fading away in the second.

Three-times grand slam champion Sharapova took a medical time out to have her left thigh treated, broke decisively in the seventh game before wrapping up the win after two hours 13 minutes on her first match point.

Sharapova will be glad to have survived since she produced eight double faults and 33 unforced errors during a scrappy contest.

French Open: Watch the whole tournament LIVE with coverage starting at 10am every day on British Eurosport and Eurosport HD (Sky 410/412, Virgin Media 521); Or watch your choice of courts on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Reuters