Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic and Beijing Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva both suffered upset losses in the quarter-finals at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament yesterday.
Serbian top seed Jankovic, who was hoping to regain the No. 1 ranking by winning in Tokyo, crashed to a 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 defeat to the 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, the fifth seed.
The second-seeded Dementieva, the winner in 2006, failed to keep an early lead before going down to qualifier Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-3, 6-4.
PHOTO: AP
Sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland was also beaten by Russia’s Nadia Petrova 6-3, 6-0, while fourth seed Dinara Safina of Russia was the best-ranked player to remain after beating qualifier Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2.
Kuzunetsova, ranked seventh against Jankovic’s two, broke the opening game and then missed six break opportunities before losing the first set.
Jankovic had to crawl back from a break down in each set and at 5-5 in the second set she hit her sixth double fault on an advantage point for Kuznetsova, before the Russian held her own to even the score.
Jankovic came back from a break down three times in the final set, but again hit a double-fault at 30-40 in the 11th game to go down 5-6.
Kuznetsova, who avenged her Olympic loss to China’s Li Na in the first round, made no mistake in the following game, hitting a backhand passing shot at 40-30 to finish off the 2 hour, 26 minute battle.
“It was a tough match for me. I had my opportunities. I wanted to win, of course, it just wasn’t my day,” said Jankovic, 23, who became the world No. 1 for just one week during the Beijing Olympics.
■DAVIS CUP
AFP, WELLINGTON
New Zealand took control of the Asia-Oceania Davis Cup Group 2 final in New Plymouth yesterday, winning both singles to take a 2-0 lead over China.
Rubin Statham gave New Zealand a winning start when he beat Chinese No. 1 Yan Bai 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Statham fell awkwardly and injured his thumb late in the match, but it was not broken and he was able to play out the victory.
New Zealand’s top player Dan King-Turner was untroubled in beating Chinese No. 2 Peng Sun 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the second match. King-Turner and G.D. Jones play Shao Xuanzeng and Yu Xinyuan in the doubles today.
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