THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PARIS -- Maria Sharapova's short stay atop the rankings will end after the French Open. Sharapova moved up from No. 2 when Justine Henin suddenly retired last month. After losing in the fourth round at Roland Garros, the Russian will drop back down and there will be a new No. 1 -- current No. 2 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, No. 3 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia or No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. None of those three ever has won the French Open or been ranked No. 1. The simplest scenario: If one wins the championship on Saturday, she will take over the top spot when the new rankings are released on Monday. Otherwise, either Ivanovic or Jankovic would become No. 1 by losing to anyone other than Kuznetsova in the final. Ivanovic plays Jankovic in the semifinals on Thursday, while Kuznetsova faces 49th-ranked Kaia Kanepi in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. "At the end of the day, rankings take care of themselves," Ivanovic said. "If you play well, if you're winning, the rankings come." Jankovic, in contrast, made quite clear that sitting atop the rankings would mean a lot to her. "My dream is to become No. 1 in the world, and now I'm very close," she said. "So I will try my best, and hopefully I can do it." PANDERING IN PARIS: Jelena Jankovic came up with a unique way to curry favour among the local fans at Roland Garros. She's been wearing a bandage around her painful right forearm during matches, and she showed up for Tuesday's quarter-final with a message written in dark marker on the white tape: "I (HEART) PARIS." Jankovic said she started the art by drawing the heart, and then her mother completed the message. "I always have this bandage on my arm. It doesn't look nice," she said after beating Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals. "And I love Paris, so there is nothing wrong with that." DOUBLE DOUBLES DUTY: Liezel Huber will be busy on Wednesday. She is scheduled to play in the women's doubles semifinals with Cara Black, and also in the mixed doubles quarter-finals with Jamie Murray. The top-seeded pair of Huber, who was born in South Africa and became a U.S. citizen last year, and Zimbabwe's Black will play 10th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the second match on Court 1. Then, Huber and Britain's Murray will play in the third match on Court Philippe Chatrier against Bob Bryan of the United States and Victoria Azarenka or Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Vladimira Uhlirova. "There's no excuse in a Grand Slam," Huber said. "You work hard leading up to it -- this is the time to perform." On Tuesday, Huber and Black beat Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-2.
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