Jankovic, Kuznetsova, Dementieva Reach Third Round In Flushing
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Flushing Meadows, NY -- (Sports Network) - Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic, former champion and last year's runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva were a trio of second-round winners Wednesday at the U.S. Open.The second-seeded Jankovic went the distance to sneak past Swede Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 in 2 hours, 45 minutes. Jankovic, who held the No. 1 ranking for one week just two weeks ago, appeared to be cruising on Day 3, up a set and serving for the match at 5-4 in the second, but Arvidsson had other plans. The Swede won a second-set tiebreak despite falling behind 0-3 in the extra session. Arvidsson won six straight points to grab a 6-3 advantage in the tiebreak and would force a third set three points later. Jankovic ultimately prevailed in a very tight third set, and converted on her second match point of the day when Arvidsson misfired long on one final two- handed backhand. The 23-year-old Jankovic piled up nine double faults, while Arvidsson uncorked 54 unforced errors and had her serve broken eight times. The Swede broke the Serb's serve on six occasions. Jankovic will face Chinese Jie Zheng in the third round. The third-seeded Kuznetsova, meanwhile, was tested in the first set before cruising to a 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 decision against Romanian Sorana Cirstea at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The three-time major finalist Kuznetsova captured her lone major title here in Flushing four years ago and lost to Belgian Justine Henin in last year's Big Apple finale. Kuznetsova will meet 28th-seeded Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in the third round, as Srebotnik advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Austrian Yvonne Meusburger. Fifth-seeded Dementieva ran her current winning streak to eight matches with a 6-2, 6-1 pasting of France's Pauline Parmentier. Dementieva, who lost to Kuznetsova in the 2004 all-Russian U.S. Open finale, is fresh off her gold medal-winning performance in Beijing two weeks ago. Up next for the two-time major runner-up Dementieva will be Britain's Anne Keothavong. A big surprise came when Ukrainian Tatiana Perebiynis ousted eighth-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3. The Top-10 star Zvonareva was a bronze medalist in Beijing. Also winning Wednesday were former Open champ Lindsay Davenport of the United States and 12th-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli. Davenport, a three-time major champion, including a U.S. Open title back in 1998, bested Alisa Kleybanova of Russia, 7-5, 6-3, while Bartoli downed Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain, 6-4, 6-2. Fourteenth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus had little trouble with Czech Iveta Benesova, 6-2, 6-3 and No. 15, Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder, cruised into the round of 32 with a 6-3, 6-3 pasting of 17-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, the 21st seed who titled in New Haven last week, trounced Italian Maria Elena Camerin, 6-1, 6-2, and No. 29, Austrian Sybille Bammer, disposed of France's Aravane Rezai in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5. Mild upsets came when Keothavong took out 25th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 and Zheng dismissed 26th-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-4. Additional second-round wins came for Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, Chinese Na Li and Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.











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