Jankovic, Safina and Venus Advance at Porsche Grand Prix

U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic, French Open and Olympic runner-up Dinara Safina and Wimbledon champion Venus Williams were a trio of second-round winners Thursday at the $650,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

The second-seeded Jankovic, who will supplant Serena Williams atop the world rankings on Monday, blew past Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-0 on the indoor hardcourts at Porsche Arena. The steady Jankovic was last week’s hardcourt champion in Beijing.

Jankovic’s quarterfinal opponent here on Friday will be seventh-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva, who zipped past France’s Marion Bartoli 6-2, 6-0 on Day 4. Zvonareva captured an Olympic bronze medal in Beijing back in August.

Meanwhile, the third-seeded Safina, who titled at a WTA Tour event in Beijing two weeks ago and captured a silver medal at the Beijing Games, got past Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), while a sixth-seeded Venus waltzed past Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 6-2.

Russian Nadia Petrova cooled off Swiss lefthander Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-1, as Schnyder was riding a five-match winning streak, including a title in Bali last month.

Friday’s other quarters will pit Safina against Venus, fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva versus Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Chinese Na Li against Petrova. Dementieva is the reigning Olympic gold medalist. Li shocked a top-ranked Serena here on Wednesday.

The 2008 Stuttgart titlist will take home $100,000.

Williams Defeats Groenefeld at Porsche Grand Prix

Venus Williams made a successful return to the Porsche Grand Prix after 10 years, advancing to the second round by beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 6-2 Tuesday. The sixth-seeded American cruised past a player who is on the comeback trail after missing nine months because of various reasons. Groenefeld did reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open but she was no match for the power and precision of the elder Williams sister.

“She hit some great shots but my experience helped me,” said Williams, who made it into the second round in 1998 in her only previous appearance in Stuttgart.

Williams needed four set points to close out the first set, committing a double-fault on one of them. The American then broke serve for 1-0 at love to start the second. She went two breaks up to lead 4-1, allowed the German one more game and hit a forehand winner on her second match point.

Williams next plays qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko, who rallied to upset 15th-ranked Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Eight-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska swept past Sandra Zahlavova 6-3, 6-2.

Another qualifier also advanced when Tsvetana Pironkova beat teenager Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 6-1. The Bulgarian next plays third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia, who had a bye into the second round, along with the other top three players in the tournament - Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva.

Marion Bartoli of France advanced by beating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-1, and Victoria Azarenka wasted a 5-2 lead before overcoming Agnes Szavay 7-5, 6-3 to set up a second-round contest against Radwanska.

The indoor tournament has brought together eight of the top 10 players in the world, with only Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova missing.

Serena Williams, who regained the No. 1 ranking after winning the U.S. Open, plays Wednesday against Li Na. Williams’ closest rival to finish the year as No. 1 is Jankovic, who trails by 21 points. Jankovic, who won the China Open on Sunday, will not play until Thursday, when she meets Alona Bondarenko, Kateryna’s sister.