Safina eases past another opponent at French Open

Dinara Safina conceded only one game in yet another easy win at the French Open, advancing to the quarterfinals of the clay-court major by beating Aravane Rezai of France 6-1, 6-0. The top-seeded Safina won 11 straight games to close out the match. She has lost only five games through four rounds at Roland Garros, and has won four of the eight sets she has played at love. Safina took over the No. 1 ranking this year, but she has yet to win a Grand Slam title. She lost to Ana Ivanovic in last year's French Open final, and fell to Serena Williams in this year's Australian Open title match.

No. 20 Dominika Cibulkova also reached the quarterfinals in the women's draw. The 20-year-old Slovak beat No. 29 Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-2, 6-4 in a sloppy match that had a combined 17 winners and 66 unforced errors.

Cibulkova won five straight games in the second set to lead 5-2, but she was broken while serving for the match and had to wait a few more minutes to serve again and advance to her first major quarterfinal.

Szavay upset third-seeded Venus Williams in the previous round. On the men's side, Fernando Gonzalez became the first player to reach the quarterfinals, beating Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

Gonzalez, who reached the 2007 Australian Open final, ended the match with his 21st forehand winner. He finished with 50 winners and only 16 unforced errors.

The 12th-seeded Chilean also reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros last year, but lost to eventual finalist Roger Federer. Hanescu reached the French Open quarterfinals in 2005 but also lost to Federer.

Gonzalez was a semifinalist at the two other clay-court tournaments he entered this year, but missed a pair of others with an ankle injury.

Later on Sunday, defending champions Rafael Nadal and Ana Ivanovic were scheduled to play, while No 3 Andy Murray was already on court.