Jankovic beats Li to reach Pan Pacific Open final

Tokyo: Former world number one Jelena Jankovic overcame an injury scare to beat Li Na of China for a place in the final at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The Serbian seventh seed recovered from a service break down in both sets to score a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Asia`s number one player in the semi-finals. After taking the first set, Jankovic hit a forehand shot into the net to lose the third game of the second set, going behind 1-2. Then she needed court-side treatment to her right arm at the beginning of the fourth game.But Jankovic showed no ill-effects and hit two consecutive winners from the baseline and broke back on a Li backhand error which went wide at 15-40 to tie the score 2-2. Jankovic added another break in the eighth game and, although she needed to save one break point in the following game, calmly served out for the match watching Li`s backhand service return go long. "I started to feel some pains in my arm and felt the balls were heavy, so it was difficult," said Jankovic, ranked eighth in the world. "I received some treatment and took medicine. I just tried my best, tried not to think about my arm, just tried to fight every point. It was a difficult match overall, but I managed to come out with a win." With the win, Jankovic improved her record against Li to three wins against four defeats. "Actually, I beat her last time in Paris. I lost to her many times before, but now I won the last two matches. She`s a great player, sometimes I think she should be in the top 10, but she had so many injuries," said Jankovic. "She`s a good athlete, she hits the ball really, really well and for me it was very difficult to win today, but I managed to do it," she added. Bureau Report