Serena Battles Past Cornet; Quarterfinal Line-Up Set

A lot of them were pushed but the favorites kept on winning in Beijing on Wednesday, as the third round took place at the Olympics. Among the winners were Jelena Jankovic, the Williams sisters and China's Li Na.
 
Jankovic, the No.2 seed, almost had a repeat performance against No.16 seed Dominika Cibulkova. Two weeks ago in Montréal, she was up 5-1 in the first set before Cibulkova came roaring back to pull off the biggest win of her career, 75 62; but on Wednesday in Beijing the Serb responded much differently this time, squandering a one-break first set lead but regrouping at 5-all and cruising to a 75 61 win.
 
"She doesn't give you any free points; everything you do, you really have to earn it," Jankovic said of Cibulkova. "I started well. I was hitting the ball quite solid. But she liked that style of play. I kind of changed my game a little bit, adding some variety, and it helped. I'm glad to win in two sets. It's a good win for me."
 
Next up for Jankovic will be No.6 seed Dinara Safina, who silenced the home crowd with a 64 63 win over Zheng Jie. Safina has now won 13 matches in a row, a stretch that includes title runs at Los Angeles and Montréal. She has also won 30 of her last 33 matches (a 90% winning percentage). She also won her last match against Jankovic in straight sets, in the semifinals of Los Angeles.
 
"Safina has been in great form the last few months," Jankovic added. "She's playing some great tennis. I lost to her a couple of weeks ago, so I have to play my best tennis if I want to win. She's quite strong at the moment."
 
The Williams sisters both won through to the quarterfinals as well, but in much different fashion. No.7 seed Venus Williams was the first to advance earlier in the day, defeating No.12 seed Victoria Azarenka in an hour and 10 minutes, 63 62. The biggest complication of the match for Williams came when Azarenka burst out to a 3-1 first set lead, but the momentum was short-lived.
 
"I love it here," Williams said. "I love playing with all of the athletes. I love the atmosphere. The most important part is it's only every four years, so now is the time to really play well. I think I'm coming closer. Quarterfinals now. So it's coming closer every round. It's my dream."
 
Next up for Venus will be Chinese trailblazer Li, who lost the opening set to Kaia Kanepi before cruising to a 46 62 60 victory.
 
"We all know Venus is a very good player," said Li, who has had nine Top 10 wins in her career, including one this week over Svetlana Kuznetsova. "It's really hard to predict what will happen tomorrow. But I will try my best."
 
"I'm really fit, the conditions are good for me, I'm working hard and trying to play smart," Williams said. "I'm very excited about playing Li. I'll try to play my best."
 
No.4 seed Serena Williams had a slow start against No.15 seed Alizé Cornet, dropping the first set, 6-3, but broke early in the second and third sets and never looked back for a 36 63 64 victory. It was similar to their only prior encounter in the semifinals of Charleston this year, where Cornet went up 4-1 in the first set before Williams battled back to win in straight sets, 75 63.
 
"I was making so many errors and I wasn't practicing like that at all; it came to a point where I hit a backhand into the net and just had enough," Williams said. "Before I knew it, I just got even angrier. But then I started playing more smart out there. I just tried keeping more balls in play and cutting down on my errors. The fact that I'm really fit was able to help out, as well. She has had some stellar results this year, so I knew I had to start playing better."
 
Next up for Serena is No.5 seed Elena Dementieva, who beat Caroline Wozniacki, 76(3) 62. Williams and Dementieva have had an interesting head-to-head, with the American winning the first nine sets they ever played - winning four straight matches and taking the first set of their most recent meeting, in the final of Moscow last fall. But Dementieva came back from that first set loss in front of her home crowd to win that last meeting, 57 61 61.
 
"She played unbelievable in that match," Williams added. "I would hit a net cord, it would barely go over the net, she would run it down. Hopefully I won't have to play that Dementieva. But if so, I'll be ready."
 
The other quarterfinal will pit No.9 seed Vera Zvonareva against Sybille Bammer. Both won tight two-setters on Wednesday, with Zvonareva beating Francesca Schiavone, 76(4) 64, and Bammer beating Lucie Safarova, 75 64. Zvonareva has beaten the Austrian in both of their prior meetings, in three sets each time.

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