Jankovic's No. 1 dreams crushed; Kuznetsova ousted in quarters

With Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova ousted in earlier rounds, the drop out of Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova completed a Top 4 shut-out in the Canadian tournament.

Jankovic, seeded second, was first to take the courts, against Dominika Cibulkova, and she eventually lost in straight sets, 75 62, despite leading 5-1 in the first set. At the end of match, the Serb had twice more unforced errors than winners, (32-15).

"Until 5-1 I was doing quite well; I was feeling good and hitting the ball well," Jankovic said. "All of a sudden I got exhausted, completely lost my concentration. It was hard for me the rest of the match to keep up, because the points were quite long. The longer they went, I felt worse and worse. I just couldn't do it."

"I didn't start very well; I was quite nervous and was making a lot of mistakes," Cibulkova said. "But I knew if I started playing my game and started stepping into the court and moving her more, I could come back. So I was just believing in myself and playing point by point. She gave me some chances and I took them."

Jankovic's chances of being No. 1 were also crushed, as she was supposed to reach the final to claim the No. 1 spot.

"I don't really think about No.1. If it's going to happen, it will happen. But at the moment I don't deserve that spot. I'm not in the best shape and I'm not at my highest level. It will take time for me to get better and better."

Kuznetsova, seeded fourth, was also ousted, by Dinara Safina, who No. 7 seeded, 26 63 62. Safina improved her head-to-head result against her countrywoman, now 5-4.

"I think in the first set she was just playing very good tennis; I haven't spoken with my coaches to see if they think I was doing something wrong," Safina said. "But then she gave some free points that helped me come back. After that, the match started to be close. I would say today, the luck was on my side."

Also through to the semifinals are No. 10 seed Marion Bartoli and No. 11 seed Victoria Azarenka.

Bartoli won her match to Ai Sugiyama, 62 63, despite being down 3-1 in the second set, and Azarenka won her match to Tamira Paszek, who took out top seed Ana Ivanovic, 64 75, despite being down 5-2 in the first set.

Safina, the highest seed left, will face Azarenka; Bartoli will take on Cibulkova. Both semifinals are scheduled for Saturday.