Ana Ivanovic breezed into the semi-finals of the French Open with an assured straight sets victory over Patty Schnyder.

The second seed, and favourite for the women's title, rarely looked flustered as she dispatched the Swiss tenth seed, 6-3, 6-2.

The 20-year-old came into the match on the back of a 6-0, 6-0 win over Petra Cetkovska in the last round and her confidence told as she broke Schnyder's first service game. A second break for last year's runner-up made sure of the set, with Schnyder managing to respond on the Ivanovic serve on only the one occasion.

The second set produced little in the way of quality tennis as the wind picked up on an overcast Philippe Chatrier Court, and Ivanovic showed signs of nerves as she tried to close out the match.

Schnyder did her best to help her opponent by committing close to 30 unforced errors in a match that lasted only an hour and 15 minutes, and after squandering two match points, one with a double fault, Ivanovic finally sealed the win when Schnyder fired wide on her forehand.

Ivanovic is yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year as she bids to claim her maiden grand slam title.

In fourth-round action earlier in the day, Svetlana Kuznetsova wasted little time in booking her place in the last eight after completing a straight-sets win over Victoria Azarenka.

The Russian fourth seed was leading 6-2, 2-2 when bad light stopped play yesterday evening and needed only five games to polish off the sixteenth seed from Belarus, 6-2, 6-3. The 2006 runner-up will face unseeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who was tied at one set all with the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova overnight. Kanepi, who dispatched sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze in the second round, eased to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 triumph when the match resumed on Court Six.