Novak Djokovic into quater finals

Novak Djokovic stayed on course for a third French Open semi-final in four years after defeating Robby Ginepri to reach the last eight.

Four the third time in four matches at Roland Garros, world number three Djokovic did not have it all his own way early on.

But the Serb put his foot on the gas to seal a 6-4 2-6 6-1 6-2 victory on Philippe Chatrier Court and set up a quarter-final against 22nd seed Jurgen Melzer or Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili.

Djokovic had won all four of his previous meetings with Ginepri without dropping a set, including in the first round at Roland Garros five years ago.

But the American world number 98 arrived in round four having already dumped out two seeds in Sam Querry and 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

He proved more than a match for his opponent in the opening two sets, but was made to pay for his only real slack service game late in the first set.

The 27-year-old made no much mistake in the second, hitting 11 winners to six to break twice and level the match.

But Ginepri was unable to maintain such a high standard, losing the next five games as Djokovic cranked up the pressure.

The Serb then broke twice more in the third to cruise home.

Djokovic will face Melzer in the quarter-finals after the Austrian ended Gabashvili's remarkable run with a 7-6 (8/6) 4-6 6-1 6-4 victory on Suzanne Lenglen Court.

World number 114 Gabashvili had not dropped a set en route to the last 16 and completed an embarrassingly one-sided third-round win over Andy Roddick on Saturday.

But despite producing another flurry of winners, he made almost as many unforced errors as the experienced Melzer held sway.

Buffon plays down World Cup chances

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has played down the chances of the World Champions retaining their title in South Africa.

Speaking from the altitude training base in Sestriere, the Juventus stopper believes that a repeat of their 2006 World Cup final victory against France in a penalty shootout is an arduous task.

"We have less chance of retaining the World Cup than we had of winning it in 2006 because after winning, it becomes more difficult to repeat that," he was quoted in fifa.com.

"But I have a lot of confidence because everyone, in particular the new-boys, is ready. Therefore we have the foundation necessary to make an impact at the World Cup, even if to win it you need many things to happen as well as luck.

Buffon remains adamant that even if the Azzurri fail to defend their title and get knocked out, they can exit the world stage with pride.

"If we have to be knocked-out the important thing is to do so with our heads held high having shown Italian football in a good light."

The 32-year-old is coming into the World Cup on the back of a disappointing season with Juventus, where he missed a huge part of the club's season but was also part of a team that posted a club record 15 league defeats and conceded another record 56 goals.

However, the Italian custodian denied that his ability between the posts has waned out and maintains he is still the best in the business.

"If I'm given the conditions to demonstrate my qualities then I still believe that I'm the best goalkeeper in the world," he said

"From the beginning of the season until November I had my best start to a season.

"But when you finish seventh in the league people say: of course at Juve there's no player who has performed," he went on. "I could be the best in the world for 100 years but if we always finish 10th or 11th no-one would even know I existed."

Buffon, who has spent nearly a decade at Juventus, also took the opportunity to pledge his loyalty to the Turin club and quash speculations linking him with a move to the Barclays Premier League with either Manchester United or Manchester City.

"I've given a lot to Juventus but it's true that I've received everything that a footballer would want, both on and off the pitch," he said.

"The fans love me and that means a lot to me. I have a very well defined situation with Juve, both on my part and their's. We want to continue our relationship.

"We live in an era in which if a player wants to leave, he leaves. Without any problems," Buffon added.

"You can see that Juve have shown a great desire to keep me, and I have done likewise to stay, otherwise that would not have happened. Right now the only thing I'm interested in is to have new players with the Juventus mentality -- those who join need to sweat blood for the shirt.

"This last season shows that (Claudio) Ranieri (who was sacked at the end of the 2008/09 season) was not the problem," the goalkeeper went on.

"We had come to the end of a cycle but even we players didn't realise that."

The Italians are drawn alongside Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia in Group F and will kick off their defence of the World Cup against Paraguay on 14 June.

Cole: No World Cup? No problem

Joe Cole admits it is important to keep football in perspective as he waits to hear of his World Cup destiny.

The Chelsea midfielder is one of the players who could be on the borderline when Fabio Capello trims his squad down from 30 to 23 players on Tuesday.

Cole did his case no harm by coming off the bench to set up England's equaliser as they came from behind to defeat Japan 2-1 in their final warm-up international in Graz.

But he said: "You've got to put football into perspective otherwise it will drive you mad because there is so much importance put on it.

"At the end of the day it is only a game of football.

"Constantly you have to have that perspective as a footballer because there is so much pressure and importance put on whether you win a game of football.

"I find it is good as a person to do that a lot.

"What will be will be, but the main thing is it will be great for the country and the people to have a great World Cup and go and win it."

Cole added: "What will I do on Tuesday (when Capello reveals his final squad)? I don't know. I've never been in this position. I don't know. It is a funny atmosphere. There is nothing you can do.

"We've done everything we can do, we've trained hard, everyone has had an excellent week's training and that's all you can do. I'll wake up on Tuesday, have my breakfast and there we go.

"Do I have any nerves? You've got to be pragmatic about it. I came here 10 days ago to try and enjoy my time back here, train well, and it's in the manager's hands about the squad.

"There are a lot of players who will be hoping, a lot of players have got a good case. But, whatever happens, we are all right behind England and hopefully this will be our time."

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard is willing to continue as England's penalty-taker if he gets the nod from Capello despite missing a second successive effort from the spot.

Lampard was off target when Chelsea defeated Portsmouth in the FA Cup final and had his spot-kick saved by Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima in England's 2-1 win in Austria.

The midfielder has netted 25 out of 29 penalties in all competitions since his spot-kick miss in the 2006 World Cup shoot-out against Portugal and he is willing to remain in the role.

Lampard said: "I always want to take penalties. It wasn't a great one against Japan which is disappointing because I practised loads this week.

"But perhaps it's better to miss them now. I was under the spotlight because I missed the last one I took. But I'm always confident in taking them.

"That will make me work harder and, if the manager wants me to take one, I will step up."

Capello: I haven't spoken to Inter

Fabio Capello and the FA are united in their desire to get the England manager's contract sorted out before the World Cup.

The departure of Jose Mourinho from Inter Milan and Lord Triesman from his post as chairman of the FA has raised unwanted uncertainty over Capello's position.

Having shaken hands with Lord Triesman on a proposal to remove a post-World Cup escape clause on his £6million-a-year contract that runs through until the end of Euro 2012, Capello now wants reassurances the men who matter within the FA think exactly the same way.

Capello returned to Italy after England's 2-1 win over Japan in Graz to see his mother.

But he will take a call from Club England chairman Sir David Richards which the FA hope will reach a positive conclusion, and apparently Capello as well.

"The situation will be clear in two days when I will have spoken with Sir David Richards," said Capello. "I shook the hand of Lord Triesman but I have not written anything.

"My name is always in the newspapers. My name has been on the radio. But I can't say anything about it. I have not spoken with anyone from Inter Milan."

Although Capello tends to respond to questions about his future with the claim that should England fail to match expectations in South Africa next month, he could easily find himself surplus to requirements, such a scenario was always unlikely to unfold.

And new Club England managing director Adrian Bevington has confirmed that is the FA's position.

"We will be speaking with Fabio and going over the previous conversations that his advisors had with Lord Triesman about us wanting Fabio to stay until after Euro 2012," he said.

"That is still our position. We have not changed on that whatsoever.

"Clearly there have been changes at the top of the organisation in recent weeks and clearly it is very important to Fabio that he hears that directly from the people who will be leading the England structure going forward.

"Sir David Richards has spoken to Roger Burden, who is the acting chairman of the FA as a whole.

"Roger, with the rest of the board, has agreed that the Club England structure should be run as previously agreed, with Sir David Richards as chairman of Club England and myself as managing director."

Fabiano: Brazil can win ugly

Luis Fabiano has admitted that his country will do whatever it takes to win the World Cup, even if they have to do it the ugly way.

The Brazil striker believes that playing 'pretty football' provides little reward and the Samba Kings are willing to desert their beautiful football in order bring the World Cup home.

"If it is necessary to play dirty to win, we will do it, what counts at the World Cup is to win," said Fabiano was quoted in fifa.com.

"I am at a stage where I want to achieve several goals. I have already achieved one which is to be here with the squad."

The Sevilla hitman went on to reveal his dream of not only winning the World Cup, but also the tournament's golden boot.

"Above all the most important target is to be crowned champions. To be leading scorer is a consequence of those efforts during the whole of the tournament," added Fabiano, who has formed a potent strike partnership with Robinho since 2007.

Brazil are drawn alongside North Korea, Ivory Coast and Portugal in the 'Group of Death' and will kick off their World Cup campaign against the North Koreans on 15 June.

Cole: I'm happy with my performanc

Joe Cole has expressed his satisfaction with his performance in England's 2-1 win over Japan.

The Chelsea midfielder came on at half-time and slotted into the 'hole' behind Wayne Rooney in a 4-4-1-1 formation before shifting to the left wing when Emile Heskey was brought on.

The 28-year-old created England's equalizer against Takeshi Okada's side when he caused Marcus Tulio Tanaka to head past his own goalkeeper.

Cole was pleased with how he performed in the second half despite a physically tough game.

He told ITV Sport : "I've done alright but the most important thing was the win and these games are never easy, people don't want to get injured and there were plenty of tackles flying in."

The tricky midfielder also revealed that playing in the 'hole' is something new to him and he had only trained once in that role.

"I think we did it one day and you have to have options going into a World Cup and I enjoyed it," Cole said.

While Cole does not dare to pack his bag just yet, he is crossing his fingers that Capello will put him on the plane to South Africa this June.

"It's down to the manager. I've 10 ten days in training and now I've had 45 minutes," he concluded.

England are drawn alongside United States, Algeria and Slovenia in Group C and will kick off their World Cup campaign against the Americans on 12 June.

Lampard: We were really sluggish

Frank Lampard has admitted that it was not a vintage performance from England's 2-1 win over Japan.

The Chelsea midfielder told ITV Sport: "It's the build up, it's not an easy game, it wasn't a vintage performance, but it's about the players and we've played two games and won two games, and we've got two weeks to get ready for the real thing.

Glen Johnson failed to prevent Marcus Tulio Tanaka giving Japan a shock seventh minute lead from a corner.

England then had their opponents to thank after Tulio headed past his own goalkeeper and centre-back Yuji Nakazawa scoring another own goal to hand them a somewhat fortunate 2-1 win.

Fabio Capello was clearly unhappy with his team's first half sluggish performance, as shown by his five changes for the second half.

Reflecting on the second half, Lampard felt it was a much better improvement from the first, which he thought was sluggish.

"It's always down to the players at the end of the day. The first half was sluggish, the second half the play was quicker and we got the ball in their box a lot more."

Lampard saw his penalty saved by Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima early on in the second half which means he has missed his last two penalties after missing from the spot in the FA Cup final.

The Chelsea midfielder added: "It's down to the manager. I always want to take them but that's the way it is and it's much better to miss them now but if the manager wants me to take it, I will."

England are drawn alongside United States, Algeria and Slovenia in Group C and will kick off their World Cup campaign against the Americans on 12 June.