The Hindu : Sport : Jelena Jankovic gets past Venus Williams

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Saturday, Jun 02, 2007
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Jelena Jankovic gets past Venus Williams

Sania Mirza-Fabrice Santoro pair has an easy opening round in the mixed doubles

IN FINE FORM: Jelena Jankovic has lived up to her pre-tournament billing as one of the favourites, advancing to the fourth round with a win over Venus Williams. — PHOTO: AP

PARIS: Venus Williams was knocked out of the French Open on Friday, losing to fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the third round on Friday.

Williams, who reached the final at Roland Garros in 2002 but missed the last two Grand Slam tournaments because of injuries, also lost to Jankovic in the third round at Wimbledon last year.

"I got a little bit tired at the end," Williams said. "It's tough on clay."

"I never had it in my mind that I was going to lose the match," said Jankovic, who won a clay-court warmup tournament in Rome last month to make her one of the favourites heading into the French Open.

Top-ranked Roger Federer had no problems moving into the fourth round, winning the final nine games of his 6-2, 6-3, 6-0 victory over Potito Starace of Italy.

Unheralded and understated Russian Davydenko left Frenchman Michael Llodra a career 1-10 against Top 10 opponents after a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 defeat.

"I'm just happy that things are going well, I haven't lost a set," said the Swiss. "I'm feeling well, anyway. It's difficult for everybody here at the moment with the conditions changing, the gusty winds and the cool conditions,'' he said of a week plagued by rain and delays. ``I'm happy to have put myself in the position of the fourth round already."

Youzhny advances

Federer, bidding for a fourth consecutive Grand Slam title, next faces No. 13 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Youzhny, a semifinalist at last year's U.S. Open, beat 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-2.

Federer has a healthy respect for Youzhny's game after beating him in the Dubai final. "He's a fantastic player, famous for playing exceptionally well in practice, but for some reason not tying it together in a match situation. In another match, Filippo Volandri of Italy stunned seventh seed Croat Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-7(4), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Ljubicic reached the semifinals at Roland Garros last year, but had never previously been past the third round.

Guillermo Canas, playing his first Grand Slam event since serving a 15-month ban for doping, saw off the challenge of Belgium's Kristoff Vliegen 6-2, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 and he will now play compatriot Monaco for a place in the quarterfinals.

On Thursday, the rain came at just the right time for Amelie Mauresmo.

After easily winning the first set in her second-round match against Nathalie Dechy, Mauresmo struggled and was forced into a tiebreaker.

But, luckily for the fifth-seeded player, rain delayed play for nearly two hours, allowing the Frenchwoman to regroup and eventually earn a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1 win.

Sania Mirza and her partner Fabrice Santoro of France had an easy first round outing on Friday in the mixed doubles winning 6-2, 6-0 against Vania King of the USA and Frantisek Cermak of Czechoslovakia. However, Sania lost in the women's doubles on Thursday with a first round loss in the company of Eva Birnerova. The Indo-Czech pair went down to the seasoned combination of Lisa Raymond of the US and Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-1, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek cruised into the second round of the men's doubles competition with a straight-set win over the Polish pair of Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

Bhupathi and Stepanek defeated the 12th seeds 6-4, 6-0 in their first round encounter. — Agencies

IMPORTANT RESULTS

Prefix denote seeding

Women: Third round: 19- Tathiana Garbin (Ita) bt Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (Fra) 6-3, 6-0; 4- Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt 26-Venus Williams (USA) 6-4, 4-6, 6-1; 6-Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt 27- Samantha Stosur (Aus) 6-4, 6-4; 20-Sybille Bammer (Aut) bt 16-Li Na (Chi) 6-4, 6-3. Second round: 12-Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Olga Poutchkova (Rus) 7-6(6), 6-3.

Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt 32-Martina Muller (Ger) 6-3, 6-2; 9-Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) bt Agnes Szavay (Hun) 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4; 3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (USA) 7-6(4), 6-3; 24-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) 7-5, 6-4; 5-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) bt Nathalie Dechy (Fra) 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-1; 21-Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Meilen Tu (USA) 6-3, 1-6, 6-1. Doubles (first round): 1-Lisa Raymond (USA) & Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) & Eva Biernova (Cze) 6-1, 6-2.

Men: Third round: 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) bt Michael Llodra (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; 13-Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt 17-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Esp) 6-7(3), 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-2; Juan Monaco (Arg) bt Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4; 1-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Potito Starace (Ita) 6-2, 6-3, 6-0. Second round: Igor Andreev (Rus) bt Nicolas Massu (Chi) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) bt Gilles Simon (Fra) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(2).

Fernando Verdasco (Esp) bt 21-Dmitry Tursunov (Rus) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Albert Montanes (Esp) bt Ernests Gulbis (Lat) 6-1, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(3); Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Ivo Karlovic (Cro) 3-6, 3-6, 6-4,7-6 (2), 6-3; Oscar Hernandez (Esp) bt 28-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 7-6(8), 6-1, 6-1. 12-David Ferrer (Esp) bt Diego Hartfield (Arg) 6-4, 6-3,7-6(4); 23-Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Florent Serra (Fra) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Doubles (first round): Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) & Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt 12-Mariusz Fyrstenberg & Marcin Matkowski (Pol) 6-4, 6-0.

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