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Clijsters shaken by Safina assault
 Swiss Hingis was determined not to have to fight a third set YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSROME, Italy -- World number two Kim Clijsters suffered a surprise 6-4 7-6 defeat by Russian Dinara Safina in the last 16 of the Italian Open in Rome on Thursday. Safina, seeded 16, had failed to win a set in her six previous matches with Clijsters but ended that run as the Belgian struggled to find the range on her groundstrokes. Safina was joined in the quarterfinals by former world number one Martina Hingis, who beat eighth seed Francesca Schiavone 6-0 7-5. Clijsters' exit -- following the withdrawals of world number one and defending champion Amelie Mauresmo, Nadia Petrova and Maria Sharapova due to illness and injury -- left the claycourt tournament without the world's top four players. The Russian grabbed an early break in the second before Clijsters steadied herself in the fourth game, hitting a succession of winners to break back. The errors crept back into Clijsters's game in the tiebreak, a slew of backhand errors gifting victory to Safina. "I came out on court a little bit tired after playing doubles last night, but when I saw that she was not playing well I said to myself I have to go for it," said Safina, who next plays fifth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva. "She is a great baseliner and she hits the ball so hard, so you have to wait and take whatever chances come your way." The 25-year-old Swiss Hingis, who recently returned to the top 30 after ending a three-year exile, easily overpowered the top-ranked Italian in a one-sided first set. Early breakSchiavone came out more aggressively in the second set to grab an early break before Hingis broke back. She then took advantage of a double fault and a pair of wild backhands by Schiavone to gain a decisive break in the 11th game before serving out for the match. "In the first set I played very well, I made almost no mistakes. But then in the second set she started to mix it up and all I was thinking was how I didn't want to go to a third set," said Hingis, who won the claycourt tournament in 1998. In the last eight Hingis will play the winner of the later match between 15th seed Flavia Pennetta and Anabel Medina Garrigues. Italian qualifier Romina Oprandi, playing in only the second WTA event of her career, produced a major upset to thrash Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-0 6-1. The defeat in 71 minutes was embarrassing for the fragile Zvonareva, who has been a twice semifinalist at the Foro Italico. Her fellow Russian and fifth seed Elena Dementieva also struggled to beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld. German Groenefeld, the 11th seed, took the middle set but subsided in the decider to lose 7-6 3-6 6-1. 
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