The 31-year old Davenport was erratic at times against an opponent who offered little threat after building a 5-2 lead in the second set but failing to serve out the match at her first opportunity.

After dropping her serve at 5-3, she broke Ditty for the sixth time to set up a meeting with one of the hottest players on the tour this year.

"Its a great position for me to be in," said Davenport. "She's obviously had a great year. This is what I came back to do, to play some matches and try to play some good players, so I'm excited about it."

"I don't know what to expect... to be honest it probably is a bit soon to play somebody at the very top. Its a great challenge and I know I can play well. I just don't know how well."

Meanwhile, the world number three Jankovic of Serbia surrendered the first four games against Australian Casey Dellacqua, before producing a series of strong groundstrokes to lift herself back into contention.

"I didn't have good timing out there and I was making a lot of mistakes," Jankovic said. "I was very erratic and didn't play the way I wanted, but a win is a win."

She put her poor performance down to not practicing for a few days following her run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.