Jankovic toppled by Kuznetsova

Top seed Jelena Jankovic was bundled out of the Pan Pacific Open in a 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 defeat by Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova [Images] in Friday's quarter-finals.

The loss ended the Serb's hopes of recapturing the world number one ranking from Serena Williams [Images] this week following her recent loss to the American in US Open [Images] final.

Olympic [Images] champion Elena Dementieva became the sixth of the tournament's top eight seeds to bow out of the Tokyo event as the Russian was upset 6-3, 6-4 by Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik.

Jankovic tore through the first set but, after being pegged back by Kuznetsova, both players struggled for consistency in the decider, which contained eight breaks of serve.

A double fault gave Kuznetsova a 6-5 lead and the Russian's nerve held as she closed out proceedings with a kicking serve and a sharp backhand drop volley after almost two-and-a-half hours.

"I knew I had to take risks in the third set," the former US Open champion told reporters after beating Jankovic for the fourth time in six meetings.

"She made a few double-faults on important points. I guess she was scared because I was attacking.

Jankovic, who had fumed at the chair umpire and yelled at herself as her game began to unravel, was still in a black mood an hour after the match.

"I'm frustrated," she said. "I was unlucky on a couple of big points. It just wasn't my day. I have to learn from this."

Fourth seed Dinara Safina briefly flirted with disaster before advancing with a 6-4, 6-7, 6-2 win over Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi in the day's last quarter-final.

Meanwhile, Nadia Petrova sprung her second surprise in 24 hours by beating sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-3, 6-0 in the bottom half of the draw.

The Russian, who stunned Serb Ana Ivanovic, the second seed in Tokyo, in Thursday's second round, takes on compatriot Safina in the semi-finals.

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