• BNP Paribas Open

Dementieva through to quarters despite shaky serve

Elena Dementieva's serve was in weak form © Getty Images

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Click here for Tuesday's men's action
Tuesday's tennis gallery

Elena Dementieva plotted her way into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday, but she will need to become far more solid behind her own serve if she is to reign victorious at the end of the week in Indian Wells.

Dementieva saw off No. 19 seed Aravane Rezai 6-3 6-3 to progress through the fourth round, but the Russian saw her serve broken on three occasions early on in an entertaining encounter. Fortunately, Dementieva's baseline game remains one of the most gifted on the WTA Tour, and it proved too strong for Rezai as the Russian advanced in under 70 minutes.

Holding serve appeared to be way down both players' list of priorities as the pattern of the match did the very opposite of 'going with serve', Dementieva eventually claiming the first set after six breaks. Eight double faults punctured the opening exchanges as it became safer to return than serve, although Dementieva could at least take consolation from the fact her statistics measured up favourably to those of her opponent.

Rezai's first-serve success rate dropped below 50 per cent as she won just three points behind her second serve in the first set, and the crucial game came with Dementieva 40-15 down in the sixth game. Rezai had two break chances to pull level, but Dementieva held her nerve before going on to take the advantage 6-3.

With the first set in the bag, the No. 4 seed quickly broke Rezai in her opening service game of the second, only to stay true to form as she allowed the Frenchwoman to break back immediately. That was Dementieva's last mistake though as she closed out the match with one final break to advance.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki suffered a second set slump against Nadia Petrova but she powered home to take the match 6-3 3-6 6-0.

Caroline Wozniacki will meet Zheng Jie in the quarter-finals © Getty Images

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Wozniacki simply stepped up a gear in the deciding set after Petrova had levelled the even contest, and the Russian could manage only ten points as the world No.4 wrapped things up in one hour and 47 minutes.

Agnieszka Radwanska will be Dementieva's opponent in the last eight, after the No. 5 seed defeated Marion Bartoli 6-3 6-2.

Radwanska broke as early as the fourth game in the first set to assume control over her 11th-seeded opponent, but Bartoli deservedly hit back for 4-3. The Frenchwoman had two points for 4-4 as well, but Radwanska turned up the pressure to break for a second time and take the set 6-3.

Neither girl could hold serve at the start of the second stanza, but Radwanska then created eight further break chances - accepting two of them - to wrap up the victory.

Jelena Jankovic progressed at the expense of Shahar Peer in one of the day's quicker matches. The top-ten star took just 57 minutes to secure her 6-2 6-2 triumph, despite being broken twice in the second set. The dominant victory saw Jankovic break Peer six times during the match, including in all four of her service games in the second set.

Also through to the quarter-finals is Zheng Jie, who defeated Elena Baltacha's conqueror Alicia Molik 6-3 4-6 7-6(1) to continue her fine form in the tournament. No. 18 seed Jie beat Maria Sharapova in the previous round, and she came through a match of contrasting sets to establish a meeting with Wozniacki.

There were seven breaks of serve in the first set as Jie failed to hold until her fourth attempt, with both girls lacking the necessary power to assert themselves. Jie finally found some consistency to take the opening set, but the warning signs were there as she won less than half of the points on her first serve.

Molik knew the door remained open and she kept things much tighter in the second stanza, allowing her Chinese opponent to break just once as she hit back 6-4. However, Molik's first serve percentage dropped from 82 to 64 in the deciding set, and Jie eventually capitalised in a one-sided tie-break for victory.

Sam Stosur made light work of disposing with No. 12 seed Vera Zvonareva, winning 6-2 7-5 to progress to the last eight. Stosur claimed the first five games in a hugely one-sided first set and, despite a mini-revival from Zvonareva, clinched the advantage 6-2. Zvonareva put up more of a fight in the second set, but a solitary break was enough for Stosur to progress.

Stosur will next meet Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez after she completed one of the upsets of the day with a 6-4 6-4 win over Yanina Wickmayer. Despite Sanchez's seven aces, it was not a match for the servers as breaks were achieved on six occasions. Sanchez won 81% of points on her first serve but she could only hit the target with her first effort on 43% of tries.

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