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LOS ANGELES: Jelena Jankovic booked her semi-final berth at the
$600,000 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) hardcourt tournament
here Friday, continuing her progress toward the world No.1 ranking.
The top-seeded Serb, who can overtake
countrywoman Ana Ivanovic atop the WTA world rankings by lifting the
trophy here, passed her toughest test so far this week with a 7-5,
6-4 victory over ninth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova.
Although Petrova had lost four of six prior
career meetings with Jankovic, she was runner-up to Ivanovic last
year on the courts of the Home Depot Center in the Los Angeles
suburb of Carson.
While Jankovic doesn’t have to contend this
week with Ivanovic, who didn’t return to defend her title,
Jankovic has been dealing with a nagging knee injury she suffered at
Wimbledon.
In the semifinals, the 23-year-old will face
fourth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina, who beat eighth seed Victoria
Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-1.
Safina, ranked ninth in the world, is enjoying a
breakout season, with a triumph in Berlin and a run to the French
Open final, where she lost to Ivanovic.
With second-seeded Williams joining elder sister
Venus and Lindsay Davenport as top Americans pulling out of this
event because of injury, fans were pinning their hopes on wild card
Bethanie Mattek.
Mattek ousted Czech Nicole Vaidisova en route to
the quarterfinals, and reached the semifinals with a 6-2, 7-5
victory over China’s Yuan Meng.
Mattek moved within one victory of reaching her
first WTA Tour final.
She’ll have to get past Italian veteran Flavia
Pennetta in the semis. Pennetta defeated Austrian Sybille Bammer 7-6
(7-3), 3-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
Pennetta, 26, improved to 32-13 for the year,
which has included titles in Vina del Mar and Acapulco.
-- AFP
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