Francesca Schiavone’s love affair with Roland Garros continued on Sunday as she dug deep to defeat Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals. It was the little Italian’s 11th straight win in Paris following her upset triumph here last year and she will next take on Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who at 19 is 11 years her junior.
The 2006 world junior girls champion and 14th seed saw off her more experienced compatriot and third seed Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-2. Also through to the last eight was Marion Bartoli who became the first French woman to reach the quarter-finals here since Mary Pierce was runner-up in 2005 when Gisela Dulko retired when 7-5, 1-0 down with an injury to her left thigh. She will next take on the winner of the tie opposing 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.
With the top two seeds, Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters already out of the tournament, the highest-ranking players left are fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Schiavone. It was the first time in the Open era (since 1968) that none of the top three seeds reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. Schiavone used all her clay-court craftmanship to counter former world number one Jankovic, who had much more power in her shot-making and depth to her serve.
Using plenty spin and tactical positioning, Schiavone ran away with the first set, but the Serb dominated the second. The key moment in the decider came, after an early exchange of service breaks, in the ninth game with the scores level at 4-4. Schiavone went on the offensive at the net to earn a break point which she converted when an under-pressure Jankovic hit long with a backhand.
