By Adrianna Outlaw
(October 21, 2010) Seeds are an endangered species in Moscow. Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic continues to stagger toward the finish line of the season. World No. 268 Zarina Diyas shocked the former World No. 1, 6-1, 6-2 in a 59-minute thrashing to surge into the Kremlin Cup quarterfinals. Jankovic, who said she has been taking antibiotics for a week to fight an infection, complained of breathing problems and took an injury time-out trailing 5-0.
"I was suffering on the court but I really wanted to be out there and didn’t want to retire," Jankovic said. "I finished as well as I could, but obviously it was tough for me to focus on my tennis."
The season-ending WTA Championships–Doha 2010 start Tuesday at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar. Will Jankovic bounce back in time to play the season-ending event? She says time will tell.
"Doha is a different type of tournament,” Jankovic said. “You can lose a match and still win the whole tournament. So anything can happen, but for me the biggest concern is being healthy. I will see the doctors, take some blood tests and take some more medicine. We will see what happens and hopefully I can be ready in time."
Former World No. 1's Venus and Serena Williams have already withdrawn from Doha. Venus withdrew due to a strained left knee and Serena pulled out after undergoing a procedure to repair a tendon in her right foot.
The Kazakh qualifier, who edged Gisela Dulko, 6-3, 6-7(1), 7-6(5), in the first round, converted all five of her break-point chances and limited Jankovic to just 28 points in the match.
Diyas, who celebrated her 17th birthday three days ago, said the ease of her victory was surprising.
"I was very nervous before the match," Diyas said. "She is a top player and I never played someone like her before."
It was the second straight blow-out of the day in the top half of the draw. Earlier, Moscow native Maria Kirilenko dispensed a double bagel to Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-0, 6-0. Kirilenko won 35 more points than Bondarenko (50 to 15) in the 50-minute thrashing.
The sixth-seeded Kirilenko plays Diyas for a place in Saturday's semifinals.
In an all-Russian round of 16 match, Vera Dushevina defeated Elena Vesnina, 6-4, 6-2 and will play either Anna Chakvetadze or qualifier Mariya Koryttseva in the quarterfinals.
Jankovic's dismal departure comes a day after defending Moscow men's champion Nikolay Davydenko was upset by World No. 71 Pablo Cuevas and second-seeded Mikhail Youzhny withdrew due to a viral infection.
The Kremlin Cup women's draw has been beset by withdrawals as defending champion Francesca Schiavone, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova all pulled out.
Since suffering a straight-sets loss to Samantha Stosur in the French Open semifinal in June, Jankovic has slumped to a 9-9 record. It was her second sraight loss to a player ranked outside of the top 90. She lost to fellow Serbian Bojana Jovanovski, the World No. 93, in Beijing two weeks ago.
Four of Jankovic's last six losses have come to players ranked outside the top 70. She lost to No. 114 Akgul Amanmuradova in Cincinnati and bowed to No. 75 Iveta Benesova in Montreal.
The 25-year-old Belgrade baseliner has not reached a quarterfinal in her last nine tournaments.