LOS ANGELES // Jelena Jankovic was relieved to come through her second round clash with Vania King without suffering a recurrence of a knee injury. Playing her first match since falling in the fourth round at Wimbledon, Jankovic staved off two set points in the 10th game against the unseeded American before taking control of the contest and winning 7-5, 6-2. The Serb is struggling to regain full fitness since suffering a torn meniscus ina knee during the defeat in London at the end of June, but she was able to take comfort from this victory.
"I was little but behind the ball and not reacting as fast and not having then right balance on my shots," she said. "But the most important thing is I don't have pain in my leg." Should she go on to win the title, she will take over the world No 1 ranking from absent compatriot Ana Ivanovic. "Four more to go and it's a lot of matches, but I will try my best" she added. While Jankovic was able to survive a scare and remain in the draw, three seeds went down in second round matches.
Japan's Ai Sugiyama continued her good form with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over the Swiss hope Patty Schnyder, American Bethanie Mattek eased to a 6-4, 6-0 win against Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic and China's Yuan Meng beat India's Sania Mirza 6-4 6-3. Sugiyama, 33, who reached the semi-finals of last week's Stanford Classic, never gave her seventh seeded opponent a chance to settle in an energetic encounter.
"I could never put my foot down, she's always there and ready to come back," Schnyder said. * Reuters
