Serbian top seed Jelena Jankovic denied American Vania King on two set points in the opening set, then won eight of the last 10 games to advance 7-5, 6-2 in the WTA hardcourt tournament in Carson, California on Wednesday.
Jankovic, ranked a career-best second in the world, improved to 4-0 against King and advanced to a third-round match yesterday against Hungary’s Melinda Czink, who defeated Ukraine’s Olga Savchuk 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Jankovic, 23, won her sixth career title earlier this year in Rome and has reached the quarter-finals in 11 of 12 events this year.
PHOTO: AFP
A finalist here in 2006 and a semi-finalist last year before losing to countrywoman and eventual winner Ana Ivanovic, Jankovic hopes for another deep run as she prepares for next month’s US Open.
French Open champion Ivanovic, the world No. 1, is not defending her title.
Japan’s Ai Sugiyama upset Swiss seventh seed Patty Schnyder while Russian fourth seed Dinara Safina ousted China’s Peng Shuai in other second-round matches on Wednesday.
Safina won 6-2, 6-2 while Sugiyama subdued Schnyder 6-4, 7-5 and was due to face Italy’s Flavia Pennetta next, who beat Austrian Tamira Paszek 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Australian Samantha Stosur ousted Russia’s Regina Kulikova 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 to face eighth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who eliminated Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan 6-1, 6-3.
Chan had better luck in the doubles, teaming up with compatriot Chuang Chia-jung to earn a second round victory over Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, and Flavia Pennetta. The Taiwanese pair breezed through 6-1, 6-2.
British lucky loser Melanie South, who reached the draw when US second seed Serena Williams withdrew, defeated Czech Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-2 to earn a match against China’s Yuan Meng, who ousted India’s Sania Mirza 6-4, 6-3.
American Bethanie Mattek, who has improved her ranking almost 100 places since early April, took another step forward with a 6-4, 6-0 victory against 11th-seeded Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic.
The 23-year-old Mattek was ranked 153rd in the WTA Tour rankings on April 7 after losing six of seven matches to open the season.
But she made it to the semi-finals of a grass-court tournament in England before losing to Serena Williams in the round of 16 at Wimbledon, moving her into 59th place.
Mattek’s win over Vaidisova was her ninth in 11 matches. Mattek’s third-round opponent yesterday was Olga Govortsova of Belarus, who upset No. 6 Daniela Hantuchova of on Tuesday.
Mattek said her turnaround has been primarily due to being physically fit and able to play more often and more consistently.
“I attribute a lot of it to my fitness level,” she said. “I think I’m in the best shape of my career right now. I’ve played a lot of matches and that’s made me mentally tough.”
“I’ve been able to fight my way through matches. I’ve stayed a lot healthier this year. Last year I’d win a match 7-6 in the third [set] and then be dead for the next match. Plus when you’re playing the top girls week in and week out you get a feel for their game,” Mattek said.
“It’s a lot faster, but you get used to that pace. I’ve had a great couple of months,” she said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but