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Schiavone edges Jankovic at Brisbane; Lisicki felled by injury at Auckland
By Nick Georgandis
--6--7.aspx) In a match that not only lived up to its billing, but exceeded it, Francesca Schiavone rallied past Jelena Jankovic and into the Brisbane International semifinals on Thursday.
Schiavone claimed a 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory in just under three hours by holding off Jankovic in the second-set tie-breaker and getting two crucial breaks in the decisive third set.
It was the seventh career match between the two former Top 5 players, with Schiavone narrowing the all-time series to 4-3.
The match's statistics were nearly identical, with each player scoring two aces, falling victim to six doulbe faults and breaking her opponent six times.
Schiavone will take on either second-seeded Andrea Petkovic or upstart Kaia Kanepi in the tournament semifinals.
Auckland
The quick start to the 2011 season ended Thursday for ASB Bank Classic top seed Sabine Lisicki, who retired with a back injury in her quarterfinal match against fellow German Angelique Kerber .
Lisicki was in trouble as it was when she bowed down to the injury 66 minutes into the match, trailing Kerber 6-4, 4-3. Kerber had scored four break points and won 72% of second return points against Lisicki, currently ranked 15th in the world.
The win catapults Kerber into the tournament's semifinals against fourth seed Flavia Pennetta, a convincing 6-2, 6-1 winner over Russia's Elena Vesnina.
Kerber is one win away from her first WTA final since Bogota in 2010.
Pennetta was fantastic on defense against Vesnina, winning 79% of second return points and seven break points in 13 chances.
In a matchup of players who pulled upsets of top eight seeds on Wednesday, China's Jie Zheng dominated the Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 6-3 in 60 minutes to reach the semifinals.
Zheng never had her serve broken and was successful on 70% of her first serves, along with 67% of Hradecka's second serves. The 28-year-old Zheng is one win from her first final since Warsaw in 2010 and two wins for her first title since August 2006.
Zheng will play the winner of Thursday's match between third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and Sara Errani in the tournament semifinals.
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