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Jankovic enters Moscow quarters
Jelena Jankovic battled through the pain barrier to beat Russian Vera Dushevina and advance to the quarter-final of the Kremlin Cup.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: October 14, 2008 11:30 AM IST
Read Time: 3 min
Moscow:
But there was no such trauma for the ATP event's top seed, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia barely breaking sweat as he dispatched Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1.
Jankovic, 23, dropped the first set and was 2-0 down in the second before receiving on-court treatment and gaining her composure to win 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2, her fourth win over Dushevina in their five head-to-head meetings.
"Today I felt pain in my back when I practised and during the match I was feeling more and more pain," Jankovic said on Thursday.
"It was really difficult to play as I was struggling the pain. I felt worse and worse and was even ready to quit playing when I was one set and 2-0 down.
"But after the doctor put that anesthetic cream on my back and I took the pain killer everything changed. I did my best trying to serve well and it worked."
The rivals traded breaks throughout the opening set before the 22-year-old Russian wildcard won 8-6.
In the second Dushevina, currently ranked 77th in the world, broke immediately for a 2-0 lead but Jankovic broke back twice to level at one set all.
Jankovic started the third set with a couple of breaks for a commanding 4-0 advantage and proceeded to wrap up the game and set up her 19th quarter-final in the 20 tournaments she has played this season.
Russia's Vera Zvonareva, who was seeded seventh here, also booked a quarter-final pass, outclassing Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-0 to record her fourth head-to-head win in as many meetings.
Zvonareva, currently ninth in the world, ran out to a 4-0 lead before Hantuchova even chalked up her first point of the match.
After winning the opening set in 23 minutes, the 24-year-old Russian underlined her supremacy in the second, taking it at love to set up a meeting with another Slovak, Dominika Cibulkova, for a place in the semis.
"I didn't make any unforced mistakes," Zvonareva said. "I was serving and returning well. But I know that one can have just one or two such easy matches during the season."
On the ATP event, Davydenko was pleased with the 56-minute masterclass he handed Garcia-Lopez.
"The score speaks for itself. I played confidently and controlled the match," said the local favourite who is seeking his fourth title in home events this year.
In the semi-finals, Davydenko will meet seventh-seeded compatriot Marat Safin, who beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
Another Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, the 2002 champion here, battled into the quarter-finals from a set down, beating Dudi Sela of Israel 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 7-6 (7/0) to face compatriot Fabrice Santoro.
Meanwhile, Serbia's Viktor Troicki upset his eighth-seeded compatriot Janko Tipsarevic, ousting him in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to set up a match against Germany's Mischa Zverev, a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 winner over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
World number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia battled through the pain barrier to beat Russian Vera Dushevina and advance to the quarter-final of the Kremlin Cup, a 2.4-million-dollar joint ATP and WTA event.But there was no such trauma for the ATP event's top seed, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia barely breaking sweat as he dispatched Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1.
Jankovic, 23, dropped the first set and was 2-0 down in the second before receiving on-court treatment and gaining her composure to win 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2, her fourth win over Dushevina in their five head-to-head meetings.
"Today I felt pain in my back when I practised and during the match I was feeling more and more pain," Jankovic said on Thursday.
"It was really difficult to play as I was struggling the pain. I felt worse and worse and was even ready to quit playing when I was one set and 2-0 down.
"But after the doctor put that anesthetic cream on my back and I took the pain killer everything changed. I did my best trying to serve well and it worked."
The rivals traded breaks throughout the opening set before the 22-year-old Russian wildcard won 8-6.
In the second Dushevina, currently ranked 77th in the world, broke immediately for a 2-0 lead but Jankovic broke back twice to level at one set all.
Jankovic started the third set with a couple of breaks for a commanding 4-0 advantage and proceeded to wrap up the game and set up her 19th quarter-final in the 20 tournaments she has played this season.
Russia's Vera Zvonareva, who was seeded seventh here, also booked a quarter-final pass, outclassing Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-0 to record her fourth head-to-head win in as many meetings.
Zvonareva, currently ninth in the world, ran out to a 4-0 lead before Hantuchova even chalked up her first point of the match.
After winning the opening set in 23 minutes, the 24-year-old Russian underlined her supremacy in the second, taking it at love to set up a meeting with another Slovak, Dominika Cibulkova, for a place in the semis.
"I didn't make any unforced mistakes," Zvonareva said. "I was serving and returning well. But I know that one can have just one or two such easy matches during the season."
On the ATP event, Davydenko was pleased with the 56-minute masterclass he handed Garcia-Lopez.
"The score speaks for itself. I played confidently and controlled the match," said the local favourite who is seeking his fourth title in home events this year.
In the semi-finals, Davydenko will meet seventh-seeded compatriot Marat Safin, who beat Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.
Another Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, the 2002 champion here, battled into the quarter-finals from a set down, beating Dudi Sela of Israel 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 7-6 (7/0) to face compatriot Fabrice Santoro.
Meanwhile, Serbia's Viktor Troicki upset his eighth-seeded compatriot Janko Tipsarevic, ousting him in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to set up a match against Germany's Mischa Zverev, a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 winner over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis
Jelena Jankovic
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