Sharapova, Jankovic reach last eight at Pan Pacific Open

TOKYO, Sept. 30 -- Former world number one Maria Sharapova cruised into the quarterfinals at the Pan Pacific Open after beating fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova on Wednesday.

The world 25th-ranked Sharapova, who won here in 2005, came back from one set down to win 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 over Kleybanova, who is ranked 29th in the world.

Another former world number one, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, breezed past Elena Vesnina of Russia after winning the first set 6-1 and leading the second 3-0. Vesnina abandoned the match with a left thigh problem.

In the quarterfinals on Thursday, Jankovic will take on 14th seed Marion Bartoli of France, who beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Sharapova will play Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, the winner over qualifier Chang Kai-chen of Chinese Taipei 7-5, 6-2.

In other third-round matches, Asia's number one Li Na of China beat Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.