Serena enters last 16,Dementieva crashes out

Serena Williams accused Spanish opponent Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of cheating after winning a bad-tempered French Open third round clash on Saturday.

Ten-time Grand Slam title winner Serena Williams avoided the Roland Garros trap which claimed sister Venus to reach the French Open last 16 on Saturday. But Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva,the 2004 runner-up,was sent crashing out by Australian 30th seed Samantha Stosur.

Williams,the 2002 champion,survived a worrying health scare early in the third set against Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez,when she appeared to struggle with her breathing,to claim a 4-6,6-3,6-4 win. Alexsandra Wozniak,the first Canadian woman to make the fourth round,now awaits the second seeded American who is attempting to win a second French Open and ensure all four Grand Slam titles are currently in the Williams family. Williams had struggled to impose herself on her 43rd ranked opponent and the Barcelona left-hander clinched the first set thanks to a crucial break in the fifth game.

But the world number two levelled before enduring her courtside drama just after she had broken to lead 2-1 in the decider.

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The Spaniard hit back before Williams raced away to a 5-2 lead. She fluffed her lines when she served for the match in the eighth game,but wrapped up victory in the next. Stosur’s 6-3,4-6,6-1 win over Dementieva allowed her to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career,and the first time on the testing clay courts of the French capital. Stosur will now tackle France’s Virginie Razzano,who put out Italian veteran Tathiana Garbin 7-5,7-5,where a victory would make her the first Australian woman to make the quarter-finals here since Jelena Dokic in 2002.

Fifth seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic,a semi-finalist in the last two years,brushed aside Australia’s world number 73 Jarmila Groth 6-1,6-1. Jankovic,who has dropped just 10 games in three rounds,will face either Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki or Romania’s Sorana Cirstea for a place in the quarter-finals. Svetlana Kuznetsova,the Russian seventh seed,continued her low-profile progress through with a 6-1,6-3 win over Hungary’s Melinda Czink.

The 23-year-old will face Polish 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska who put out unseeded Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2,6-4 for a place in the quarter-finals. Belarussian ninth seed Victoria Azarenka set up a last 16 clash against defending champion Ana Ivanovic after she beat Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 5-7,7-5,6-2 in a tie held which was suspended Friday because of bad light.