Davydenko advances at Kremlin Cup

HE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOSCOW -- Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic rallied from a set down to beat qualifier Vera Dushevina 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-2 Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup.

In the men's draw, top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1.

The 23-year-old Jankovic took the No. 1 ranking from Serena Williams on Monday after winning back-to-back titles in the China Open and the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Jankovic will retain her top ranking next week regardless of the results in Moscow because Williams, runner-up in Moscow last year, pulled out because of injury.

Jankovic next plays Flavia Pennetta of Italy, who beat Ekaterina Makarova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Dushevina won the first set on a tiebreaker and was 2-0 ahead in the second before Jankovic recovered and made a decisive break in the eighth game. Despite 12 aces in the match, Dushevina could not challenge Jankovic in the third set.

The fifth-ranked Davydenko reached his first quarter-final in six events, since winning a third title this season in Warsaw in July.

The Russian will next face seventh-seeded Marat Safin, who beat Julien Benneteau 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.

Davydenko beat Safin in the final in 2006 for his second title in Moscow. He also won in 2004 and last season.

"I have no illusions," Safin said. "Judging from his today's match, he (Davydenko) plays and moves perfectly. I think I have little chances, but why not to try? I have nothing to loose."

The defending champion won four straight games in the first set and five straight in the second to close out the match in 56 minutes.

"The score speaks for itself," Davydenko said. "I played confidently and controlled the match."

Davydenko is looking for his fourth title this season.

Safin took a 5-2 lead in the decisive set and served the match out with an ace.

"It was a strange match," Safin said. "I should have played like I did in the first and the third set and it could have been finished in two sets. But there was something wrong with me in the second set."

In other second-round matches, Janko Tipsarevic lost to Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4 in an all-Serbian match, and Igor Kunitsyn ousted American Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-3.

In a later second-round match, fourth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France beat Dudi Sela of Israel 6-7 (3), 7-5, 7-6 (0). Mathieu won the tournament in 2002.

Germany's Mischa Zverev beat Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to advance to his fourth quarter-final final this season.

In the women's draw, seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia routed Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 6-0. The Slovak scored only five points on Zvonareva's serve.

"I did not make unforced mistakes and was serving and returning well," Zvonareva said. "But I know that one can only have one or two such easy matches in a season."

The ninth-ranked Zvonareva will be playing in her fifth quarter-final in her home event. She has never advanced.

Nadia Petrova of Russia was a set and 3-2 up when Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki retired with breathing problems.

In the quarter-finals, Petrova will face defending champion Elena Dementieva.