Kleibanova upsets Jankovic, Schiavone beats Kirilenko to advance to Kremlin Cup semifinals
By APFriday, October 23, 2009
Jankovic upset, Schiavone advances at Kremlin Cup
MOSCOW — Alisa Kleybanova upset defending champion Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-3 Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup.
The upset came a day after the second-seeded Jankovic took the last spot for the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Jankovic dropped serve in the fifth game of each set. Down 5-3 in the second set, Jankovic double-faulted twice to lose the match.
Kleybanova will play Olga Govortsova of Belarus, who crusied past Vera Dushevina 6-3, 6-0.
Eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Maria Kirilenko.
Schiavone, the 2005 runner-up, will play Alona Bondarenko in the other semifinal. Bondarenko ousted qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-3.
In the men’s tournament, sixth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic advanced to his first semifinal this season by defeating Robby Ginepri of the United States, 6-3, 6-3.
Tipsarevic will face Ukranian qualifier Illya Marchenko, who rallied to beat Evgeny Korolev 0-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan also rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over fifth-seeded Pablo Cuevas. Kukushkin will play third-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who downed Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-3.
