Jankovic overcomes second-set deficit to beat Kleybanova and reach BNP Paribas Open semis

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Jankovic on a roll in the desert

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Jelena Jankovic rallied from a 2-4 second-set deficit to beat Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 6-4 Thursday and reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open.

Jankovic won the final four games of the match, twice breaking Kleybanova, to extend her best showing of the year. Jankovic made the semifinals at Indian Wells in 2008, and went on to finish the year ranked No. 1 in the world.

But she struggled last year, prompting changes. She’s pared down her playing schedule, lost weight, and dropped her coach earlier this month.

“I haven’t been playing well,” she said. “So it’s nice to get that feeling back and to be winning again and be in the end of the tournament again.”

At the start of the two-week event, the locker room was so crowded Jankovic could barely set her racket bag down. She arrived Thursday and found plenty of room.

“I like that feeling,” she said. “I want to be at the end of the tournament where there’s no one and there’s only a couple of us standing. That means I’m doing well.”

Defending champion Rafael Nadal was to play Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in a night match. Nadal has beaten him five consecutive times.

In the semis, Jankovic will play Aussie Samantha Stosur, a 6-3, 7-6 (9) winner over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.

Stosur has yet to drop a set in four matches, and is projected to crack the top 10 for the first time in the WTA Tour rankings.

No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki and fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who also hasn’t dropped a set, will meet in the other semi.

Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia gave himself an early birthday present by defeating Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, setting up a semifinal against either third-seeded Nadal or No. 19 Berdych. He turns 31 on Friday.

“I got a phone call from my brother just after the match. He said that in Croatian time zone I finish just like couple seconds before my birthday, so it’s fantastic,” he said.

Ljubicic had his serve broken just once — in the first set — and won eight of the final nine games, helped by 11 aces.

“I was a little bit upset after I lost that service game. Cost me the whole set. It was really the only bad game that I played in the whole match,” he said. “But I was lucky enough to be able to break him early in the second. I felt really creative out there. I felt I could hit the ball anywhere.”

After playing three consecutive night matches, Jankovic faced much different conditions during the day, with the sun in her eyes and the temperature in the upper 80s.

Kleybanova was within a point of taking a 5-2 lead on her serve in the second when the Russian double-faulted twice in a row and got broken.

Then Jankovic held at 4-4 and owned the momentum the rest of the way.

“Against Kleybanova it’s really not easy to play your game because she plays those really flat shots and you never know where she’s gonna hit it,” Jankovic said. “It can throw you back at times.”