THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING -- Home favourite Zheng Jie ousted No. 2 Ana Ivanovic from the China Open on Friday, defeating the Serb 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-4 to reach the semifinals.
Ivanovic, the French Open champion and former No. 1-ranked player, was erratic with her serve and ground strokes. She led in the first set, but failed twice to serve it out before Zheng won in the tiebreaker.
The gruelling match lasted almost three hours, was filled with exciting rallies, service breaks, strings of deuce games and unforced errors.
In the three other quarter-finals, No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 7-5, 6-1; No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia defeated Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-4 and Russian No. 5 Vera Zvonareva beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-0, 6-1.
Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng had noisy support from home fans at the Beijing Tennis Center in the south of the capital. She is the only Chinese woman still playing in the tournament after four others lost in the first round.
Zheng previously beat Ivanovic en route to the Wimbledon semifinals.
"This is a good win for me," she said. "It was in China and in front of my home crowd. There were lots of fans supporting me, which gave me even more motivation."
Ranked No. 30 by the WTA, Zheng is hoping the ranking points earned in China will push her past her previous career high of No. 27.
Ivanovic has battled hand and leg injuries since winning in Paris, which has limited her play and confidence. However, she described her match Friday as "one of the best" since the French Open.
"I haven't had many matches in the last three months," she said. "Since the French Open, you can count them on one hand the number of matches I played. I've been really struggling with injuries and it was a very frustrating time. But now I am confident again that I play 100 per cent -- and I can go on the court and work 100 per cent."
In the semifinals, Zheng plays Kuznetsova, while Zvonareva plays Jankovic.
The China Open is a combined WTA and ATP event.
In the men's quarter-finals Friday, Dudi Sela of Israel upset No. 6 Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-4, 6-1 to reach his first semifinal in a major ATP event. Sela was boosted by two wins over the weekend in a Davis Cup tie against Peru.
Sela trailed early against Robredo, but turned things around by attacking and hitting to the Spaniard's backhand.
"Every short ball he hit, I didn't wait," said Sela, who upset No. 1 David Ferrer on Thursday. "I went for the ball. I knew I had to attack him. If not he's going to move me around."
Two other seeded players also lost on Friday.
No. 7 Rainer Schuettler of Germany ousted No. 4 Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Unseeded Bjorn Phau of Germany also defeated No. 3 and defending champion Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
In the late quarter-final, No. 2 Andy Roddick of the U.S. faces Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
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