Sharapova, Jankovic reach Pan Pacific Open quarters

Tokyo: Crowd-favourite Maria Sharapova stormed into the quarter-finals by beating fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova in the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament today. The former world number one, the champion here in 2005, fired an array of lightning service return winners for a

come-from-behind 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over her 29th-ranked compatriot. Sharapova, now ranked 25th, double-faulted on a break point to lose the opening game and failed to recover the deficit as she hit a backhand shot that landed in the net on Kleybanova`s first set point. But Sharapova was never really in danger, taking a comfortable 5-0 lead in the second set and 5-2 in the third before forcing Kleybanova to hit a return wide on the first match point, to finish off in two hours four minutes. Another former world number one, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, dominated Elena Vesnina before the Russian abandoned the match with a left thigh problem at 6-1, 3-0. Jankovic was the highest ranked player at seventh here. It came after defeats for world number one and defending champion Dinara Safina, the fellow Russians French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and Beijing Olympic champion Elena Dementieva, US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and American Venus Williams. "It`s a different feeling playing for the number one, or just playing tour to play in the championships. So it`s a challenge. I just want to do my best," said Jankovic. In the quarter-finals tomorrow, Jankovic will take on 14th seed Marion Bartoli of France, who outclassed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. "I go out there and do my best and what I can do. I know how I have to play. We`ll see," said Jankovic. Sharapova will play Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, the winner over qualifier Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan 7-5, 6-2. Chang shocked Safina in the second round on Monday. In other third-round action, Asia`s number one Li Na of China made a great come back victory from one set down and 4-5 to beat Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Bureau Report