Top seed Jelena Jankovic out of San Diego
Jelena Jankovic has crashed out of the Mercury Insurance Open in the first round, losing in straight sets to Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova.
The top seed raced to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set before Kleybanova staged her comeback. Jankovic though kept her nose in front and had three set points at 5-3, but her unseeded opponent saved them all before reeling off four straight games to seal the first set and then dominated the second set to claim the 7-5, 6-2 victory.
"I think I had lots of chances but with the lack of practice and fitness, I was pretty tired, and it showed tonight," said Jankovic after the match. The world No. 2 had retired from the previous two tournaments she had played: ending her fourth-round match against Vera Zvonareva at Wimbledon citing back problems, she was then forced to walk away from her second-round match at Portoroz during July as a result of an ankle injury.
Jankovic’s defeat in the second round leaves Sam Stosur as the highest seed remaining in the draw after the Australian defeated teenager Melanie Oudin 6-4, 6-4 to kick off her San Diego title campaign. The victory moves Stosur to a 2-0 career win-loss record against the 18-year-old American, having secured victory with the same scoreline in the first round at Eastbourne this June.
The result ensures Stosur maintains what has been a consistent record of progressing to the quarter-finals or beyond over the past few months remains intact. Indeed, the world No. 5 has only once missed out on a place in the final eight since she reached the semi-finals in Indian Wells during March – when she was dumped out of Wimbledon in the first round by eventual quarterfinalist Kaia Kanepi – as she has developed into one of the WTA Tour’s toughest opponents during 2010.
Second seeded Stosur is joined in the quarter-finals in San Diego by fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the ever consistent Pole defeating former world No. 1 Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-3 in their second round match. Radwanska will face world No. 16 Shahar Peer next after the Israeli defeated Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5, 6-4 in her second round match.
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