Dementieva advances at Pan Pacific

Defending champion Elena Dementieva posted a 6-3, 7-5 win over fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open.

Dementieva struggled with her serve and had eight double faults before recovering to close out the second-round match in 1 hour, 32 minutes.

"It's going to be difficult to defend the title," the third-seeded Dementieva said. "But I like this surface and will just try to relax and play my game."

She will play Italy's Roberta Vinci in the final eight. Vinci downed France's Severine Bremond 6-3, 6-0.

Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia downed China's Zheng Jie 6-4, 6-0, and fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, also of Serbia, overpowered Mara Santangelo of Italy 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova plays later Thursday in her first match of the $1.3 million tournament.

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