Venus through, Jankovic out
leadPicToggle(); Williams sisters through, Jankovic out 
From correspondents in London, England
Former Australian Captain June 30, 2008
TAMARINE Tanasugarn became the first Thai to reach a grand slam quarter-final as she sent Serb second seed Jelena Jankovic crashing out of Wimbledon.
Jankovic’s loss means it is the first time in the open era in which none of the world’s top three women have made the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Tamarine, ranked 60, took advantage
of Jankovic’s struggles with a knee injury to overpower the world No.3 and claim an historic 6-3 6-2 fourth round victory.
The 31-year-old, who had appeared in the last 16 of grand slam eight times without success, will now face defending champion Venus Williams in the last eight.
Williams advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alisa Kleybanova.
Her sister Serena is also through to the last eight after a straight sets win over fellow American Bethanie Mattek.
The younger of the Williams sisters won 6-3, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final meeting with either fourth-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia or Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, the 14th seed.
In other women’s action Zheng Jie reached her first grand slam quarter-final with a convincing 6-3 6-4 victory over Hungarian 15th seed Agnes Szavay.
Zheng had stunned top seed Ana Ivanovic in the last round and the world No.133 showed that was no fluke by demolishing Szavay in an hour and 21 minutes in the fourth round.
While Tamarine wept tears of joy on Court 18, Jankovic joined the growing list of top players to suffer an embarrassing exit from the All England Club this year.
After top seed Ana Ivanovic and third seed Maria Sharapova were humbled last week, Jankovic, who had reached the semi-finals at both Grand Slams this year, was left as the highest seed still in the women’s singles.
But, hampered by a knee injury she sustained in the previous round, the Serb bowed out tamely.
Told she was playing “a Thai girl'’ in the last 16, Jankovic had replied “Tiger who? Tiger Woods?'’
There can be no doubt she knows who Tamarine is now.
Jankovic arrived with a bandage on her left leg, a legacy of her third round win over Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, and it was clearly limiting her.
Her movement was never as fluid as she would have liked and it seemed to sap her morale. She constantly flexed the leg between points and cried out in frustration as Tamarine took control.
Jankovic is renowned for her ferocious ground strokes but Tamarine was able to out-hit her time and again.
After missing two break points in the sixth game, Tamarine battered Jankovic into submission, forcing the Serb to net and concede the first break.
Tamarine, the oldest player left in the women’s singles, scented the moment was right to go for the kill and she broke again in the first game of the second set.
Both players needed treatment soon after but were able to continue. Tamarine called for another back massage after breaking for a 4-1 lead.
Jankovic pulled a break back but it was only a brief respite as Tamarine broke again and closed out the match in convincing style.
Agence France-Presse