Jankovic joins Serena and Stosur in French Open quarters
Jelena Jankovic is through to the quarter-finals of the French Open after defeating Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2 in their fourth-round match.
The fourth seed took just one hour and 25 minutes win the match on Philippe Chatrier Court, committing just 11 unforced errors in a match in which she was never really challenged.
Jankovic, who is still searching for her maiden Grand Slam title, will now play the unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova after the Kazakh, like the Serb, won her fourth-round match with few problems.
Shvedova, who had failed to progress beyond the third round of a major before Roland Garros this year, booked a place in the quarters with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over qualifier Jarmila Groth.
Groth’s exit means Australia now has just one player left in the draw at Roland Garros – world No. 7 Sam Stosur, who knocked four-times French Open champion Justine Henin out of the competition on day nine.
“Of course it is disappointing,” Henin said after losing her first match at the French Open in six years (she missed the last two while she was “retired” from tennis). “I just wanted so much that the adventure could keep going. I haven't been, of course, at my best today. Samantha was the best player on the court. She took her chances, the opportunities.
“When you come back at this level, you know, after, I mean, two years off, you know it's not gonna be easy to deal with a lot of situations. That means I still have to work harder and see it as a big challenge.
“There have been a lot of good things in the first five months of the season, but that's not easy. I mean, I knew 2010 would be difficult. I mean, even if in Australia I got very good results, it was also the surprise to come back for the other players and everything.
“Like I said, I took this year as a year of transition, so of course it's hard. But in another way, it seems a bit normal. I'll just try to keep a lot of positive things and get focused on the future now,” Henin said after her defeat.
Henin’s loss has robbed the French Open of a dream quarter-final between the Belgian former world No. 1 and the current world No. 1 Serena Williams, who also won through to the quarter-finals on day nine.
Williams will now play Stosur for a place in the semi-finals.
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