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Melbourne - Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic went down in the fourth round and No. 3 Dinara Safina was twice just a point away from following her out of the Australian Open on Sunday.
In back-to-back matches on Rod Laver Arena, Frenchwomen took it to the top seeds. Jankovic failed against No. 16 Marion Bartoli. Safina survived, fending off double match point against No. 15 Alize Cornet.
"I am so lucky that I'm in the quarterfinals, she was one point away," said Safina, who made eight double-faults and 52 unforced errors to only 29 by Cornet. "My heart is still pumping so hard."
Bartoli, the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up, was the aggressor in a 6-1, 6-4 win over Jankovic that wasn't entirely unexpected.
"Yeah, it's obviously disappointing. Nobody likes to lose," Jankovic said. "Today was a tough day for me.
"I had a slow start. I let my opponent completely come on top of me and play her game. I gave her a lot of confidence."
The 23-year-old Serb remains without a Grand Slam singles title and could also be without the No. 1 ranking in another week.
Safina, who was down 5-3 and 40-15 with Cornet serving for the match, rallied to win 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. She could assume the top ranking if she wins her first major here.
When the 22-year-old Russian converted breakpoint with an overhead in the pivotal 10th game in the third set, she pumped her right arm up high in triumph.
Cornet, who had crumbled to her knees with her head in her hands after losing the previous point, didn't win another game.
Safina, the Olympic silver medalist, had never been past the third round at Melbourne Park. After racing to a 5-0 lead in the first set, it appeared she was coasting. Then she fell apart and she started missing routine shots with the court wide open.
"I don't always want to play like this," she said. "I want to play better for my team, I think they have a heart attack watching me."
Jankovic said she couldn't repeat her coach's reaction to her loss, but that it might take months to get over the loss.
She said the pressure she was under to win a breakthrough major to go with her ranking wasn't necessarily distractions.
"It doesn't matter because it's just the beginning of the year, and there is many more tournaments to play," she said. "Maybe it will change, the No. 1 ranking, but it's not important what you do now, it's the whole year ahead of us."
Bartoli had not been past the second round in seven previous trips to Melbourne Park, but was 3-3 in head-to-heads including a quarterfinal win at Wimbledon two years ago.
"I knew I could beat Jelena on a good day, it was just a matter of executing it, you know, play the right shot at the right time," she said. "But I was not overwhelmed by the situation, and I just went for my shot and everything went in."
On the men's side, No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina moved into the quarterfinals with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 19 Marin Cilic of Croatia.
Critics questioned whether Jankovic could convert her numeric ranking into a victory in the championship match at a major. She was a semifinalist at the Australian Open and French Opens last year before losing the U.S. Open final to Serena Williams.
She was injured and missed an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong where she'd planned to build up.
When Bartoli turned up the pressure Sunday, Jankovic tightened up again.
Bartoli was the aggressor, repeatedly sending Jankovic serves back faster than they came over and standing two steps inside the baseline for second serves.
Bartoli hits two-fisted, flat and hard from both sides, and she peppered the lines and corners. Jankovic, repeatedly covering her face or looking to her mother for support and guidance, seemed shellshocked after falling behind 5-0 in the first set despite shouts of "Let's go JJ!" from the crowd.
Jankovic fended off two set points while serving at 1-5, but Bartoli easily held in the next game, finishing off the set with a deft drop shot that caught Jankovic behind the baseline.
Increasingly tentative and bewildered, Jankovic twice lost points early in the second set by stopping play on Bartoli shots that she thought were long but replays showed caught the line. She used up her last challenge of the set in the sixth game.
Bartoli broke to pull ahead 5-4 in a game that went to deuce six times, with Jankovic netting a backhand on breakpoint.
Jankovic wanted to challenge Bartoli's winner in the next game but couldn't. The Frenchwoman went on to hold despite a twitchy double fault at 40-15, whacking a forehand winner down the line and raising her arms in jubilation.
That leaves No. 2 Serena Williams, seeking her 10th Grand Slam singles title, as the highest-ranked player in the women's draw.
Early Sunday results from the $15.44 million Australian Open at Melbourne Park (seedings in parentheses):
Men's singles:
Juan Martin del Potro (8), Argentina, def. Marin Cilic (19), Croatia, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
Ladies singles:
Marion Bartoli (16), France, def. Jelena Jankovic (1), Serbia, 6-1, 6-4.
Dinara Safina (3), Russia, def. Alize Cornet (15), France, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
Men's doubles:
Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski (6), Poland, def. Andrei Pavel and Horia Tecau, Romania, 6-2, 6-2.
Mardy Fish and John Isner, United States, def. Bruno Soares, Brazil, and Kevin Ullyett (7), Zimbabwe, 6-2, 7-6 (7).
Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, Spain, def. Lucas Arnold Ker and Juan Monaco, Argentina, 6-2, 7-5.
Bob and Mike Bryan (2), United States, def. Rajeev Ram and Bobby Reynolds, United States, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3. ^Women= ^Third Round=
Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, and Peng Shuai (16), China, def. Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (2), Spain, 6-0, 6-1.
Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (11), Spain, def. Yan Zi and Zheng Jie (6), China, 7-5, 6-4.
Serena and Venus Williams (10), United States, def. Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs (5), Australia, 6-4, 6-2.
Mixed doubles:
Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi, India, def. Anastasia Rodionova and Stephen Huss, Australia, 6-1, 6-2.
Legends doubles:
Peter McNamara and Paul McNamee, Australia, def. Darren Cahill, Australia, and Mansour Bahrami, Iran, 7-5, 6-4.
Henri Leconte, France, and Mark Philippoussis, Australia, def. Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, Australia, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-6 tiebreak.
Junior boys:
Jordan Szabo, Australia, def. Ronak Manuja, India, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 13-11.
Yuki Bhambri (1), India, def. German Sanchez Delfin, Mexico, 4-6, 6-1, 8-6.
Dino Marcan (13), Croatia, def. Dino Dell'Orto, Hong Kong, 6-1, 6-3.
Luke Saville, Australia, def. Vladzimir Kruk, Belarus, 6-2, 6-1.
Stephen Hoh, Australia, def. Harry Fower, United States, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Federico Gaio, Italy, def. Andrei Vasilevski, Belarus, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Julien Obry (5), France, def. David Sofaer, Australia, 6-4, 6-3.
Adrien Puget (7), France, def. Jarryd Chaplin, Australia, 6-1, 6-2.
Shuichi Sekiguchi (14), Japan, def. Jordan Kelly-Houston, New Zealand, 6-2, 6-1.
Dominik Schulz, Germany, def. Jason Murray Kubler, Australia, 6-1, 6-1.
Daniel Berta, Sweden, def. Francis Casey Alcantara (10), Philippines, 6-3, 6-4.
Alexandros-Ferdinandos Georgoudas, Germany, def. Andrew Whittington, Australia, 6-3, 6-1.
Henri Laaksonen, Finland, def. Ben McLachlan, New Zealand, 6-2, 6-4.
Carlos Boluda-Purkiss (11), Spain, def. Mbonisi Ndimande, Zimbabwe, 6-2, 6-1.
Na Jung-woong, South Korea, def. Todd Volmari, Australia, 2-6, 6-3, 9-7.
Junior girls:
Nicha Lertpitaksinchai, Thailand, def. Rashmi Teltumbde, India, 6-2, 6-4.
Victoria Kamenskaya, Russia, def. Zarina Diyas (11), Kazakhstan, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
Sophie Letcher, Australia, def. Martina Kubicikova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3.
Miyabi Inoue, Japan, def. Anna Arina Marenko, Russia, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Lauren Embree (8), United States, def. Luksika Kumkhum, Thailand, 6-4, 6-0.
Brittany Sheed, Australia, def. Ajla Tomljanovic (6), Croatia, 6-3, 6-4.
Heather Watson (9), Britain, def. Harriet Sheahan, Australia, 6-2, 6-1.
Chanel Simmonds, South Africa, def. Natchanok Saenyaukhot, Thailand, 6-0, 6-1.
Ana Bogdan (2), Romania, def. Ashling Sumner, Australia, 6-2, 6-1.
Mia Vriens, Australia, def. Beatrice Capra, United States, 6-3, 6-3.
Kristina Mladenovic (7), France, def. Andrea Konjuh, Croatia, 6-3, 6-1.
