Jankovic advances to Rome quarterfinals

ROME (AP) " Top-ranked Dinara Safina rallied past Zheng Jie 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Italian Open, while defending champion Jelena Jankovic advanced after her opponent retired with an illness.

Ana Ivanovic squandered a four-game lead in the decisive set against Agnieszka Radwanska to lose 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

Safina is looking to win her first title since becoming No. 1 last month.

The 23-year-old Russian had an erratic game Wednesday, losing her serve seven times. But she rallied from 5-2 down in the third set and won the last six points of the tiebreaker.

"I'm happy that I won, but I'm just very sad at the way I played," Safina said.

Jankovic led 6-1, 1-0 when Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine called for the trainer and withdrew. Jankovic will play Svetlana Kuznetsova, who ousted crowd favorite Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

Ivanovic, the French Open champion, started off poorly and couldn't hold serve in the first set. She began dictating play with precise groundstrokes in the second, and appeared headed toward victory with a 4-0 lead in the final set.

But the 20-year Radwanska captured the last six games, ending the match with one of her 19 winners.

"I don't know how I did it, she's a great player," the 12th-ranked Radwanska said. "It's always very tough to come back."

The seventh-ranked Ivanovic had 31 winners, but committed 32 unforced errors " 20 more than her opponent.

Jankovic and Bondarenko were on court for 35 minutes.

"I would have loved to finish the match, because I was playing pretty well in that first set," Jankovic said. "I felt the ball really well and I had good timing."

Jankovic has won the Italian Open the past two years and is looking to regain her form after a slump at the start of the year.

Patty Schnyder, who defeated Serena Williams in three sets in a match that ended early Wednesday, lost 6-3, 6-0 to 16th-seeded Kaia Kanepi.

Later Wednesday, No. 5 Venus Williams will face No. 22 Anna Chakvetadze.