Ivanovic suffers defeat in Rome

Ivanovic has had an inconsistent season

Ana Ivanovic suffered a setback in her preparations for the defence of her French Open title as she was beaten in the Italian Open third round.

The Serb lost 6-1 3-6 6-4 to Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.

Ivanovic had been 4-0 up in the third set, but Radwanska won six games in a row to send the fifth seed packing.

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic and world number one Dinara Safina each won to reach the last eight, along with fourth seed Venus Williams.

The three-time Wimbledon champion saw off Russia's Anna Chakvetadze 6-0 6-7 6-4.

Safina struggled to a 5-7 6-1 7-6 (7/3) victory over Zheng Jie in two-and-a-half hours.

The Russian was broken four times as she lost the first set but eased through the second set to level.

Maybe now I will do a little bit of shopping Jelena Jankovic

Safina looked set to go out at 5-2 down after being broken twice in the decider before fighting her way back to force a tie-break, which she won 7-3.

"I'm upset with myself because I know I can play better," said Safina said.

"I'm practising and I'm playing great and aggressive, and suddenly I come on the court and it's completely different person playing. Way too passive."

Jankovic's progress was a lot easier as she reached the last eight when Kateryna Bondarenko retired because of illness.

Serb Jankovic, who is targeting her third consecutive title in Rome, had looked in impressive form and was leading 6-1 1-0 when her opponent pulled out.

"I would have loved to finish the match because I was playing pretty well in that first set," said Jankovic.

"I felt the ball really well and I had good timing so it was a good set, a good game for me.

"But, unfortunately my opponent was sick and there's nothing you can do about that.

"Maybe now I will do a little bit of shopping and that's it."