Jankovic overcomes stiff neck and rain to reach quarters

London, June 16: A stiff neck could not prevent Jelena Jankovic from battling to a 3-6 6-3 7-5 win over Maria Kirilenko in the third round of the Birmingham Classic on Friday.The second-seeded Serbian capitalised on a rare dry spell at the rain-hit tournament and was joined in the last eight by Chinese fourth seed Li Na and number five Marion Bartoli.

Top seed Maria Sharapova, however, was not as lucky as she had to make a dash for the locker room before she could even play a point. The Russian`s match against Austrian Tamira Paszek will have to be played on Saturday, although the weather is unlikely to improve. Third seed Daniela Hantuchova and Eleni Daniilidou were also left waiting around in the dressing room. After waking up with a stiff neck, French Open semi-finalist Jankovic had to battle back from a set and a break down before eventually edging past Kirilenko. "I was struggling and didn`t play my best tennis but I stayed in the match and found a way to win," said Jankovic, who will next face Ukraine`s Alona Bondarenko. Bureau Report