Jankovic has been in top form at the Foro Italico

Jelena Jankovic produced a superb display to thrash Venus Williams for the loss of just one game in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open.

The Serb swept past the American fourth seed 6-0 6-1 in under an hour to deny the Romans an all-Williams semi-final.

World number one Serena Williams earlier saw off Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-4 to take her place in the last four.

And former world number one Ana Ivanovic continued her return to form with a 6-2 7-5 win over Nadia Petrova.

The Serb, unseeded after slipping to 58th in the rankings, will next face Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, who beat Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6 (7-6) 6-4.

Ivanovic recently hired Steffi Graf's old coach, Heinz Gunthardt, and it appears to be working for the 22-year-old.

606: DEBATE I anticipate Ana, who has always been one of my very favourite players, ascending the rankings in double-quick time conosu2

"We've worked a lot the last few weeks and I feel great out there," she said.

"I've been working a lot on the serve and I'm getting a lot of free points. My serve has been a big issue the last year and a half and having confidence in it now puts less pressure on the other parts of my game."

The 2008 French Open champion has beaten ninth seed Victoria Azarenka and sixth seed Elena Dementieva on her way to her first semi-final since Brisbane in January.

Her last final came in Indian Wells in March, 2009, and her last tournament victory in Austria two years ago.

"It's all behind me now," she said. "I think every player goes through tough times, but it's not how many times you fall down, it's how many times you get back up. I'm really happy to be back on track."

Jankovic swept through her opening set in just 29 minutes and found little more resistance in the second.

"I had so many tough matches against Venus," said Jankovic. "It's great to win - 6-0 6-1 is really unbelievable."

Serena Williams, the world number one, is back in action this week after being out with a left knee injury since winning the Australian Open in January.

"My knee is feeling good so far," she said. "I can't believe I'm still in the tournament - it's weird."

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