Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova eased into the last 16 of the Italian Open when she beat home favourite Mara Santangelo 6-3 6-3 on Wednesday. Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic also progressed, coming back from a break down in each set to win 6-3 6-4 against qualifier Tamira Paszek.
Kuznetsova arrived in the Italian capital full of confidence after her runner-up finish at the German Open claycourt tournament in Berlin last week lifted her to a career-high third in the world rankings. Santangelo had the crowd on her side but spent the whole of the first set trying and failing to get back on level terms after double-faulting and then netting a backhand to drop serve in the opening game.
Kuznetsova let her concentration slip at the start of the second set, when she pushed a routine forehand long to go a break down. In the last 16 Kuznetsova will play Yuliana Fedak, who knocked out Nathalie Dechy 1-6 6-2 6-2.
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