BEIJING, May 16 -- Maria Sharapova will assume the No. 1 ranking in women's tennis as a result of Justine Henin's retirement.

    Henin, who announced her retirement on Wednesday at the age of 25, has asked to be removed from the rankings, the WTA Tour said yesterday. That means Sharapova will automatically become No. 1 when the next rankings are released on Monday.

    It will be the fourth time the Russian has become No. 1. She held the top spot for a total of 14 weeks in her career, the last time in 2007.

Russia's Maria Sharapova celebrates winning a point against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova during the first set tie breaker of their match at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California March 19, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "The ranking has never been a big deal for me," Sharapova said late on Wednesday after beating Dominika Cibulkova in the second round of the Italian Open. "Whether I'm No. 1 or 5, my main goal is just to keep winning tennis matches and the ranking will take care of itself if I keep winning."

    In Rome, American Serena Williams and holder Jelena Jankovic moved into the quarterfinals of the Italian Open yesterday with wins over unseeded opponents.

    Fifth seed Serena tamed lively Italian wildcard Sara Errani 6-4, 6-3, while Serbian fourth seed Jankovic strolled past Russia's Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-1.

    Serena twice came back from a break down in the first set before taking Errani's serve in the final game with the help of two big smashes and a net-cord winner.

    Italy's last hope in the tournament also proved a worthy opponent in the second set, when former world No. 1 Serena again recovered to clinch the match.

    Jankovic played assured tennis, mixing her strokes well, but Kirilenko made some careless errors and at one stage blasted a ball into the stands in frustration.

    Swiss ninth seed Patty Schnyder stayed on course for a quarterfinal with Sharapova by edging a fine tussle with eighth-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 4-6, 6-4, 7-6.

    In Germany, defending champion Roger Federer breezed past Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-2 yesterday to reach the quarterfinals of the Hamburg Masters.

    The top-ranked Federer is seeking his fifth title in Hamburg and will next play Fernando Verdasco, who upset fifth-seeded David Ferrer 7-6 (2), 6-2.

    Federer lost in the Rome Masters quarterfinals last week to Radek Stepanek but has looked very comfortable in his first two matches in Hamburg, one of his favorite events.

    Federer has only one title so far this year, at a relatively small claycourt tournament last month in Estoril, Portugal. He has a 24-6 match record.

    He had won all five previous matches against Soderling, but three of them were tight. There was nothing close yesterday, with Federer hitting 24 winners compared to 10 unforced errors.

    Verdasco, ranked No. 28, reached his second quarterfinal of the year after Valencia, where he lost to Ferrer in three sets.

    Also, Albert Montanes rolled past Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-1 and Andreas Seppi upset 12th-seeded Juan Monaco 6-0, 6-3.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily/ Agencies)