The Quarters are Set

It’s down to the final eight - the survivors who will participate in Friday’s quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.
 
After the doubles match featuring Quebecker Marie-Ève Pelletier, the Uniprix Stadium will play host to a meeting between the No.2 player in the world, Serb Jelena Jankovic, and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova, 31st on the world rankings. Logic favours Jankovic, who defeated the Slovak in straight sets in their only previous meeting in Paris on clay during the France Open. But don’t rule out Cibulkova. Her wins in Montreal over fifth seed Elena Dementieva and 12th seed Nadia Petrova have opened many eyes.
 
The daytime session concludes with a confrontation between 33-year-old Ai Sugiyama of Japan and France’s Marion Bartoli, who survived a marathon of over three hours Thursday against Russian Anna Chakvetadze, the sixth seed. Bartoli is ranked 15th in the world, while Sugiyama – who advanced to the quarters after Russian Maria Sharapova withdrew with an injury, is currently 33rd. While the Japanese won the last five meetings between the two players, it was Bartoli who won their most recent match, just two weeks ago on hard court in Stanford.
 
In the evening, an all-Russian quarter-final is on offer for tennis fans. Fourth seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova takes on No.7 Dinara Safina, the most impressive player at the Rogers Cup so far. The two athletes have played each other eight times, each winning four matches. On hard court, they have one win each.
 
The last match of the evening will feature giant killer Tamira Paszek of Austria, who shocked Ana Ivanovic on Thursday night.