Tennis: Ex-champ Jankovic reaches semis at Indian Wells
Jelena Jankovic of Serbia advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA tournament at Indian Wells.
INDIAN WELLS (AFP) - Jelena Jankovic of Serbia advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA tournament at Indian Wells by beating qualifier Lesia Tsurenko, who retired in the second set with an injury on Thursday.
Former winner Jankovic, who is seeded 18th, was leading 6-1, 4-1 when Tsurenko packed it in after 45 minutes on centre court with a right ankle injury
"It s never nice to end a match that way," Jankovic said. "In the first set I was feeling pretty good out there. I was playing my game and waiting for my chances to execute.
"In the second set she started limping and I saw that she had some problem. I lost a little bit of my focus. I was kind of looking at what she was doing."
Jankovic, who celebrated her 30th birthday last month, will now play either defending champ Flavia Pennetta of Italy or Sabine Lisicki of Germany.
Jankovic smashed one ace, only lost two points on her second serve and broke Tsurenko four times.
Tsurenko, of Ukraine, had five double faults, made 27 unforced errors and hit just seven winners.
Jankovic has always felt confident and comfortable playing in the California desert. In 2010, she defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the final but has only won one tournament since in 2013 in Bogota.
She has reached the semis this year despite not being able to train as much as normal because of a torn muscle.
"I was in doubt if I was going to be able to compete, because I did not have a lot of time to get ready and prepare," she said.
Jankovic, who is aiming for her 14th career title, beat rising star Belinda Bencic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the fourth round.
Tsurenko was the first qualifier to reach the quarter-finals since Gisela Dulko in 2004.
