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Journalism of Courage
Fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made it three Russians into the French Open quarter-finals on Tuesday when she completed a 6-2, 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
The tie had been held over from Monday night 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 the quarter-finals where she will face 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.
All eight of the quarter-finalists hail from Europe with six of those coming out of the former Communist Bloc. Second seed Ana Ivanovic was scheduled to play later on Tuesday going up against Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder.
The 20-year-old Serb was the only top seed left in the draw following Monday’s defeat of Maria Sharapova at the hands of fellow Russian Dinara Safina.
That loss means that Ivanovic, who lost in straight sets in the final here last year to Justine Henin, will take the world No.1 ranking for the first time if she wins the title.
The day’s other women’s quarter-final sees another Serb, third seed Jelena Jankovic, take on 19-year-old Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro, who is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament.
Jankovic will start as a strong favourite, but she has been struggling with an injury to her right arm and shoulder brought on, she says, by the heavy balls used at Roland Garros.
The two remaining last eight ties will be played on Wednesday opposing Kuznetsova and Kanepi on the one hand and Safina against fellow Russian Elena Dementieva on the other.
