Defending Champ Out

The first four quarterfinal spots at the French Open were snapped up on Sunday, with Dinara Safina and Maria Sharapova - a current and former world No.1 - among the fourth round winners.

Safina was on early against Aravane Rezai and silenced the French crowd with a devastating 61 60 win in just 53 minutes. Safina has now won 14 straight matches and 18 of 19 since rising to the No.1 ranking on April 20. Only Elena Dementieva has put together a longer winning streak this year, winning 15 straight in January.

"It feels good getting to the quarterfinals like this, because in Australia, I don't know how many hours I spent on the court before getting to the quarters," said Safina, who has lost only five games in her first four rounds. "Since I became No.1, I'm playing better and better. When I was challenging for No.1 at the beginning of the year, it was too much pressure. I was going on court not to lose a match. But once I got No.1, it's off my shoulders. Now I just want to play."

Awaiting Safina in the quarterfinals is No.9 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who pulled off a minor upset of No.8 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 62 63.

"I started really well but after the first point of the fourth game, I suddenly started feeling so dizzy, and I completely lost my balance," said Ivanovic, who won her first Grand Slam title here a year ago and was also a finalist the year before. "It's never easy to lose. I was really proud of my efforts in the first week. I'm very disappointed with today. But my opponent was just better."

Azarenka lost her first three career meetings with Safina, all last year, but in their fourth and most recent meeting, at Indian Wells earlier this year, she won.

"Dinara has only lost one match on clay this year and has been playing great tennis," Azarenka said. "She has been killing people so far. I need to be ready and play my best tennis to beat her. We'll see how it goes on Tuesday."

Azarenka will be in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal; Safina will be in her sixth, going 3-2 in her first five, and having won her last three.

Sharapova and Dominika Cibulkova also reached the quarters, with No.20 seed Cibulkova beating No.29 seed Agnes Szavay in straight sets, 62 64, and an unseeded Sharapova rallying from 4-2 down in the third set to beat No.25 seed Li Na in a nail-biter, 64 06 64. Sharapova has gone to three sets in every match.

"If it takes three sets, if it takes two sets, if it takes two sets in five hours, I don't care. I'm willing to be out there for as long as I need to be in order to finish the match," Sharapova said. "Today was another tough one, but I managed to get through it and win. I'm definitely a little sore but I'll be fine. That's why the Grand Slams are great, you have a day in between to recover."

"I felt like I was going to cry, because I was just so happy. I play for these moments," said Cibulkova, who will play her very first Grand Slam quarterfinal. "I didn't know what to expect here, because I was injured and didn't play the big tournaments leading up to this. I was a little bit afraid. But this is just amazing."

Sharapova and Cibulkova have played twice before, at Amelia Island and Rome last year. The Russian won both, but both matches were very competitive.

"She's a difficult opponent, especially on clay," commented Sharapova, who will be playing her 14th Grand Slam quarterfinal, going 11-2 in her first 13. "I just have to go out there and perform and we'll see who wins."