Indian Wells: Jelena Jankovic battled past Italian Sara Errani 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 in an error-strewn marathon to reach the fourth round of the Indian Wells WTA tournament.
The Serbian sixth seed piled up 57 unforced errors, compared to Errani's 42, to clinch victory in two hours, 48 minutes when the Italian made a hash of an overhead smash after a protracted rally.
Errani had been bidding to beat a top-10 player for the first time in 12 attempts and she broke the world number nine three times to sweep through the opening set in just 31 minutes.
Jankovic squandered a 3-1 lead in the second, along with five set points in the tiebreak, but levelled the match with a crunching forehand winner down the line.
The final set was also an up-and-down affair with Errani being broken three times and Jankovic twice but the Serb made her greater experience count.
After trailing 2-4, she won the next four games to reach the fourth round at Indian Wells for the third time in four years.
Earlier, Australian Samantha Stosur crushed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-3, 6-0 and Russian Vera Zvonareva brushed past Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 6-2, 6-3.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 10:22