Kazakh qualifier Zarina Diyas beat top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday in the second round of the Kremlin Cup.
The 268th-ranked Diyas, who celebrated her 17th birthday on Monday, led 5-0 in the first set when Jankovic, the 2008 champion, called for a doctor and had her blood pressure checked.
Jankovic, who has qualified for next week’s WTA championships, managed to break back early in the second set, but Diyas then broke the Serb two times.
PHOTO: AFP
Jankovic said she had been feeling unwell since coming from a tournament in China.
Diyas, whose parents moved from Kazakhstan to the Czech Republic 12 years ago, said that watching Martina Hingis’ matches on TV had inspired her to play tennis.
Diyas also reached the quarter-finals of a WTA event in Prague last year.
In Moscow, she will face sixth-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia, who routed Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-0, 6-0.
The 24th-ranked Kirilenko, who is looking for her first title this season, broke Bondarenko three times in each set.
Vera Dushevina advanced to the quarter-finals with 6-4, 6-2 win over her fellow Russian Elena Vesnina.
In the men’s second round, Viktor Troicki of Serbia rallied to upset third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Serving in the eighth game of the second set, the 13th-ranked Tsonga saved two break-points, but Troicki converted the third with a lucky net cord and leveled the match at 1-1.
The 43-ranked Serb broke decisively in the 11th game of the third set and wrapped up the match with an ace on his first match-point.
“He started much better then me, but I think I was playing pretty consistent though the entire match and in the end maybe I was more lucky to win,” Troicki said.
Tsonga was sidelined with a knee injury after losing to Andy Murray in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. He came back in Tokyo two weeks ago and reached the quarter-finals in Shanghai last week.
Earlier, Horacio Zebalos of Argentina beat Romanian qualifier Victor Crivoi 7-5, 7-6 (7/1), while Alexandr Dolgopolov upset his fellow Ukrainian, seventh-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn upset sixth-seeded Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-5. Serving at 6-5 down, the 34th-ranked Golubev saved two match-points, but sent a shot wide on a third.
Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan rallied to beat former champion Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Mathieu, who won the tournament in 2002, replaced defending champion Mikhail Youzhny, who pulled out on Wednesday with a viral infection.
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