ROME -- Maria Sharapova rallied from a four-game deficit in the second set to beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) on Thursday, advancing to the Italian Open quarterfinals along with sisters Serena and Venus Williams.
Seventh-seeded Venus Williams won the first three games of each set in a 7-5, 6-2 win over No. 10 Vera Zvonareva and next will face defending champion Jelena Jankovic. The fourth-seeded Jankovic routed Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-1.
Serena Williams overcame some erratic moments before eliminating Italian wild-card entrant Sara Errani 6-4, 6-3, and next will play 34th-ranked Alize Cornet, who upset last year's runner-up, Svetlana Kuznetsova.
"It would be great if Serena and I could play in the final," Venus Williams said. "It's hard these days."
The Williams haven't met in a final since Serena Williams beat her older sister for the 2003 Wimbledon title.
While they are on opposite sides of the draw, Venus Williams has a tough contest with Jankovic. The two are tied 3-3 in career meetings, with Williams winning their last match in a third-set tiebreaker at last year's U.S. Open.
"We always have great matches, but I feel better now than I have all year," said Venus Williams, who returned to the tour this week after missing a month with an unspecified medical problem.
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| Maria Sharapova will regain No. 1 on Monday. (AP) |
Sharapova, who improved to 25-2 this year, will regain the No. 1 ranking on Monday because of Justine Henin's retirement.
The Russian committed 35 unforced errors to Wozniacki's 22, but led 37-16 in winners.
"I'm making way too many unforced errors," Sharapova said. "That's something I'm going to have to work on, because not too many players are going to let me back in the set like Wozniacki today."
On Wednesday, Sharapova struggled with her consistency in a three-set win over Dominika Cibulkova, a match that finished near midnight.
"I went to sleep at 2 or 2:30, and waking up was very difficult this morning, but obviously experience helps in those situations," Sharapova said. "The most important thing now is recovery."
The 26th-ranked Kirilenko appeared to run out of energy against Jankovic after winning two three-set matches Wednesday.
"I didn't expect such an easy match. She's a very good player," Jankovic said. "I just went out with the plan to play aggressively and really go for my shots, and that's what I did."
Jankovic is struggling with a cold, and she had an assortment of tissues and medication that she used on changeovers.
"The doctors gave me a lot of things to take, and that's what I have to do to play," she said. "I'm still on antibiotics and trying to recover."
