MOSCOW: Kazakh qualifier Zarina Diyas beat top-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-2 Thursday in the second round of the Kremlin Cup.
The 268th-ranked Diyas, who celebrated her 17th birthday on Monday, led 5-0 in the first set when Jankovic, 2008 champion here, called for a doctor and had her blood pressure checked.
Jankovic, who has qualified for next week’s WTA championships, managed to break back early in the second set but Diyas then broke the Serb two times.
"I had nothing to lose,” Diyas said. “I just relaxed and played my best tennis.”
Jankovic said she had been feeling unwell since coming from a tournament in China.
“I got an infection and have been on antibiotics for a week or so,” she said. “Unfortunately I wasn’t ready to play at my level. I was suffering on the court but I really wanted to be out there and didn’t want to retire. I finished as well as I could, but obviously it was tough for me to focus on my tennis as I had hard time breathing.”
No. 7-ranked Jankovic hopes to recover in time for the end-of-season championships starting Tuesday.
“Doha is a different type of tournament,” she 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.”
Diyas, whose parents moved from Kazakhstan to Prague, Czech Republic, 12 years ago, said that watching Martina Hingis’ matches on TV had inspired her to play tennis.
Diyas also reached the quarterfinals of a WTA event in Prague last year.
In Moscow, she will face sixth-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia, who routed Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-0, 6-0.
The 24th-ranked Kirilenko, who is looking for her first title this season, broke Bondarenko three times in each set.
“Several first games were tough but I won them and turned the match my way,” said Kirilenko. “I gave her no chance in the second set.”
Vera Dushevina advanced to the quarterfinals with 6-4, 6-2 win over her fellow Russian Elena Vesnina.
In the men’s second round, Viktor Troicki of Serbia rallied to upset third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
Serving in the eighth game of the second set, the 13th-ranked Tsonga saved two break points but Troicki converted the third with a lucky net cord and leveled the match at 1-1. The 43-ranked Serb broke decisively in the 11th game of the third set and wrapped up the match with an ace on his first match point.
“He started much better then me,” said Troicki. “But I think I was playing pretty consistent though the entire match and in the end maybe I was more lucky to win.”
Tsonga was sidelined with a knee injury after losing to Andy Murray in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He came back in Tokyo two weeks ago and reached the quarterfinals in Shanghai last week.
“Troicki is a strong player,” said Tsonga. “To beat him you must be 100 percent fit and I’m far from my best form today. Though, I was close to winning the match. It’s a pity. It’s a good tournament and I would like to progress here.”
Earlier, Horacio Zebalos of Argentina beat Romanian qualifier Victor Crivoi 7-5, 7-6 (1), while Alexandr Dolgopolov upset his fellow Ukrainian, seventh-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-2, 7-6 (4).
Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn upset sixth-seeded Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-5. Serving at 6-5 down, the 34th-ranked Golubev saved two match points but sent a shot wide on a third.
“I expected a tough match from Andrey,” Kunitsyn said. “He is enjoying his best season and when he played his tennis today I had only to watch.
The win in the first set boosted my confidence and I fought for every point in the second one.”
Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan rallied to beat former champion Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Mathieu, who won the tournament in 2002, replaced defending champion Mikhail Youzhny, who pulled out on Wednesday with a viral infection.
