• French Open, Day Eight

Schiavone marches on as Zvonareva crashes out

Francesca Schiavone will meet Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals © PA Photos

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Francesca Schiavone moved one step closer to the defence of her French Open title as she saw another of her rivals fall by the wayside at Roland Garros.

Schiavone came through a stern test to beat former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 6-3 2-6 6-4 as third seed Vera Zvonareva crashed out at the hands of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Schiavone powered through the opening set, but Jankovic, a three-time French Open semi-finalist, battled back to force the match to a decider.

Schiavone moved closer to victory with an early break in the third set, but was once again pegged back by a dogged Jankovic who made Schiavone work for every point.

But the Italian eventually prevailed after two hours and 38 minutes to set up a meeting with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who reached her first grand slam quarter-final with a battling win over third seed Vera Zvonareva.

Pavlyuchenkova, the highest-ranked teenager on the WTA Tour, fought back from a break down in the final set, winning five straight games to seal her place in the last-eight with a 7-6(4) 2-6 6-2 victory.

Pavlyuchenkova won the opening set, but Zvonareva soon found her rhythm to take the second and force the match to a decider. An early break looked to have put Zvonareva firmly in control, but Pavlyuchenkova showed impressive grit to triumph in the all-Russian clash on Court Philippe Chatrier.

With Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters crashing out in the third round, Zvonareva's defeat means it is the first time in the Open era that the top three seeds have failed to make the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

One player who knows what it takes to win at Roland Garros is Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova. The 2009 champion is seeded 13th in Paris and has flown under the radar, but will fancy her chances after seeing the draw open up. Kuznetsova showed real grit as she dug deep to defeat Caroline Wozniacki's victor Daniela Hantuchova 6-7(6) 6-3 6-2.

Next up for Kuznetsova is Marion Bartoli, who kept French hopes alive when she reached the last eight after Gisela Dulko retired with a leg injury. Dulko, who received treatment on her left leg during the first set, continued playing, but quit early in the second, trailing 7-5 1-0.

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