• WTA Tour

Erratic Serena though to quarter-finals

Serena Williams was far from her best in Rome © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Jankovic stuns woeful Venus in Rome
  
• News: Venus and Serena ease through in Rome
  
• Profile: Venus Williams | Serena Williams

Serena Williams booked her place in the quarter-finals of the Internazionali BNL D'Italia in Rome, but it was a far from dominant performance by the world No. 1.

Playing in her first tournament back after three months out of action with a knee injury, Williams progressed to the last eight with a 6-2 3-6 6-0 victory over Germany's Andrea Petkovic.

After winning five games on the bounce to seal the opening set, the Australian Open champion was broken twice in the second set by a player ranked nearly 50 places below her before regaining her composure and aggressively winning the decider to love.

Williams will next meet Maria Kirilenko, who came from a set behind to beat last year's French Open semi-finalist Dominika Cibulkova 4-6 6-1 6-1. Kirilenko, who knocked out fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova on Tuesday, will hope to continue her giantkilling run against the world No. 1.

There will be no Caroline Wozniacki for Williams to contend with as the Dane was ousted 6-4 6-2 by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Wozniacki picked up an ankle injury a couple of weeks ago and whether that was affecting her is not clear, but she was well short of her best.

Martinez Sanchez raced ahead, only for Wozniacki to reel off three games on the spin to lead 3-2. But that was as good as it got for the No. 2 seed as she lost the first set 6-4 and was broken twice in the second as the Spaniard eased through.

Venus Williams remains on course for a semi-final meeting with her sister after a comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory over Israel's Shahar Peer. Peer, who reached the semi-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart last week, had no answer for an impressive Williams who fired seven aces on her way to victory.

No. 4 seed Venus will meet seventh seed Jelena Jankovic in the last eight after the in-form Serbian cruised past Yanina Wickmayer 6-2 6-0, while No. 14 seed Nadia Petrova beat Dinara Safina's conqueror Alexandra Dulgheru 6-0 3-6 6-2 to make progress in Rome.

The No. 6 seed was sent packing, as Elena Dementieva fell victim to the resurgent Ana Ivanovic who claimed a 6-1 7-6(5) victory.

Meanwhile, at the Estoril Open in Portugal, No.2 seed Sorana Cirstea and fourth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues booked their place in the quarter-finals with victories over Michelle Larcher de Brito and Ekaterina Makarova respectively.

Kirsten Flipkens was the victim of a surprise victory for Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus, who reached the quarter-finals of a WTA Tour for the second time in her career after a 7-6(4) 6-1 victory.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.