Jankovic knocked out of Australian Open

Melbourne: World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic was blown out of the Australian Open on Sunday by a French typhoon, exiting at the fourth round stage.

The top seed never got to grips with Marion Bartoli as the Swiss-based Frenchwoman smashed her off court 6-1 6-4 in just 82 minutes.

"I knew I could beat Jelena on a good day, it was just a matter of executing," Bartoli told reporters.

Jankovic headed for the exit thinking of what might have been. "When I'm on the top of my game, you know, it's very hard to beat me, because you really have to kind of spill blood if you want to win the match," she said.

"But at the moment, I'm not there yet. I still need to get better, to improve, be much, much tougher out there. "Nobody likes to lose. Today was a tough day for me."

Gallic good fortune almost continued on centre court when Aliza Cornet was poised for victory over third seeded Russian Dinara Safina, but the Frenchwoman melted in the sun.

She twice failed to serve out the match and squandered two match points in the 10th game as Safina turned up the heat to snatch victory.

Safina, whose brother Marat Safin saved a match point in the semi-finals against Roger Federer before winning the Australian Open men's singles title in 2005, will play either Jelena Dokic or Alisa Kleybanova in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

"Maybe she was just not ready to win this match, because she had it all in the hands," Safina said when asked if it had been her experience which had seen her safely through.

"I'm just a little bit disappointed about this match, you know. Playing against this girl and allowing myself to do these kind of mistakes."

Eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro clinched the first of the men's quarter-final spots with victory over Croatia's Marin Cilic. The Argentine put a slow start behind him to advance 5-7 6-4 6-4 6-2.

Del Potro will next play either second seed Roger Federer or 20th seed Tomas Berdych. Men's champion Novak Djokovic takes on Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the night match later on Sunday after a redeemed Dokic carries Australian hopes against Russia's Kleybanova.