Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in action against France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu at Roland Garros on Sunday. (Reuters)

Paris: Serbia hogged the French Open limelight on Sunday when first Ana Ivanovic raced and then Jelena Jankovic hobbled into the quarter finals before Novak Djokovic struck another blow to the hopes of a home champion.

Meanwhile, play was halted by rain for a second time on Sunday, with three-time champion Rafael Nadal 6-1, 1-0 up on fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco on Centre Court.

Second seed Ivanovic played with the urgency of a woman late for a lunch appointment as she ruthlessly dismantled Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-0, 6-0 in 54 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.

While Ivanovic’s win was painfully easy, Jankovic’s was just downright painful.

Jankovic needed a 10-minute medical time-out after game three of the second set against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska before she crawled past the finishing line with a 6-3, 7-6 victory.

“The whole arm is a mess,” said Jankovic. The 23-year-old will next face Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.

No. 26 Flavia Pennetta, who beat Venus Williams on Friday, lost to qualifier Navarro 3-6, 2-6. The 19-year-old is the first qualifier to reach the women’s quarter finals since Petra Mandula in 2001.

The Paris crowd had barely got through the scrum at the turnstiles as Ivanovic showed no mercy against the lamentable Cetkovska.

The unseeded Czech, who had not dropped a set in the tournament, looked like a decent threat, but once Ivanovic got her eye in she folded quicker than a bad poker hand.

Ivanovic pounded her with winners and even when the Czech carved out two break points in game five of the second, she slouched with a knowing smile when Ivanovic snuffed out any whiff of a comeback. She now plays Swiss 10th seed Patty Schnyder.

Djokovic was in no mood to let Paul-Henri Mathieu put him off his mission of a first Roland Garros title. He swept past the French 18th seed 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and now faces his childhood training partner Ernests Gulbis of Latvia for a place in the semi-finals.

Gulbis is the only Latvian ever to grace the Grand Slam stage and the 19-year-old did the Baltic state proud by silencing the partisan crowd with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 win over Frenchman Michael Llodra.

The triumph carried him to his first Grand Slam quarter final and the mild-mannered world No. 80 was in no mood for extravagant celebration.

“I’m happy. I mean, after the match, I don’t want to jump around and do crazy stuff. I’m just relieved that at last it’s over,” said Gulbis.