Safina flies, Sharapova not; Ivanovic flops

World number one Dinara Safina fired an ominous warning to her rivals after she flattened France's Aravane Rezai 6-1 6-0 to reach the French Open quarterfinals on Sunday.

The Russian, who has dropped only five games en route to the last eight, said she could still play better.

"Honestly, I still feel I can do much better. I think that if somebody would push me more I still can get much more out of myself," Safina told reporters.

"Overall, I think I can serve much harder still. I think I'm playing good enough but I still feel like I can do better."

The Russian was psyching herself up for the difficult challenges that lay ahead as she will next face ninth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarusninth.

"It's going to be a good match," said Safina.

"I would like just to go out and there and just same: play point by point, game by game, and show my best tennis."

Safina left a sunbathed Centre Court barely sweating after 53 minutes.

For a few minutes it seemed that Safina, gunning for a maiden grand slam title, would not have it all her way against Rezai.

The Frenchwoman had two break points in the third game but then ran into a brick wall as all her groundstrokes started rebounding back to her side of the court faster.

Safina shrugged off the first break point with a service winner and Rezai sent a backhand wide on the second.

The Russian, who has only lost once on clay this season, went on to break for 3-1 after benefiting from two double faults by Rezai.

Safina mixed her game with sliced backhands to further unsettle the world number 57 and broke again for 5-1 with a forehand down the line, following on serve to pocket the first set.

Rezai managed only nine points in the second set as Safina peppered the court with groundstroke winners and bagged another straightforward victory on her first match point when the Frenchwoman netted a backhand.

HOLDER IVANOVIC SUNK BY AZARENKA

Holder Ana Ivanovic was knocked out in the fourth round, beaten 6-2 6-3 by Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka.

The Serb, who has been struggling with a right knee injury and played with black tape over the area, has suffered a dip in form since winning at Roland Garros last year and has slipped from number one to eighth in the world.

The ninth-seeded Azarenka, who has won three titles this year, took command after breaking in the third game and clinched the first set when Ivanovic's forehand clipped the netcord and bounced back into her side of the court.

The 19-year-old Belarussian surged to a 5-2 lead in the second before Ivanovic, her crown hanging by a thread, fought back with a couple of excellent passing shots and a dropshot to break.

Despite the crowd cheering "Ana, Ana", her resistance was short-lived as Azarenka served out the match to set up a quarterfinal against world number one Dinara Safina.

It is the first time she has reached the last eight at a grand slam.

SHARAPOVA HOBBLES INTO QUARTERFINALS

Russian Maria Sharapova kept alive her French Open dream when the Russian reached the quarterfinals with a 6-4 0-6 6-4 victory over China's Li Na.

The former world number one, who is on a comeback trail following a nine-month injury layoff, will meet Slovak 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova for a place in the last four.

Sharapova, who has dropped to 102nd in the WTA rankings and has needed three sets to advance from each round, dropped serve twice but broke three times to take the opening set before fading away in the second.

Three-times grand slam champion Sharapova took a medical time out to have her left thigh treated, broke decisively in the seventh game before wrapping up the win after two hours 13 minutes on her first match point.

Sharapova will be glad to have survived since she produced eight double faults and 33 unforced errors during a scrappy contest.