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Updated at 1:43 a.m., Friday, September 26, 2008

Tennis: Zheng upsets Ivanovic to reach China Open semis

By STEPHEN WADE
Associated Press

BEIJING — No. 2 Ana Ivanovic was ousted from the China Open by local favorite Zheng Jie 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-4 Friday to reach the semifinals.

Ivanovic, the French Open champion and former No. 1-ranked player, was erratic with her serve and ground strokes. She led in the first set, but failed twice to serve it out before Zheng won in the tiebreaker.

Zheng beat Ivanovic en route to the Wimbledon semifinals this July.

In two other quarterfinals, No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia defeated Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-4 and Russian No. 5 Vera Zvonareva beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-0, 6-1.

In the semifinals, Zheng plays Kuznetsova, while Zvonareva plays the winner of Thursday's late match between top-seeded Jelena Jankovic and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

American Andy Roddick is scheduled to face Juan Carlos Ferrero later Friday in the men's quarterfinals.

Zheng had noisy support from home fans at the Beijing Tennis Center in the south of the capital. She is the only Chinese woman still playing in the tournament after four others lost in the first round.

The grueling match Friday lasted almost three hours, filled with exciting rallies, service breaks, strings of deuce games and unforced errors.

"This is a good win for me," she said. "It was in China and in front of my home crowd. There were lots of fans supporting me, which gave me even more motivation."

Ranked No. 30 by the WTA, Zheng is hoping the ranking points earned in China will push her past her previous career high of No. 27.

Ivanovic has dealt with hand and leg injuries since winning in Paris, which has limited her play and confidence. But she described her match Friday as "one of the best" since the French Open.

"I haven't had many matches in the last three months," she said. "Since the French Open, you can count them on one hand the number of matches I played. I've been really struggling with injuries and it was a very frustrating time. But now I am confident again that I play 100 percent — and I can go on the court and work 100 percent."

The China Open is a combined WTA and ATP event.

In the other men's quarterfinals Friday, it was: Dudi Sela vs. Tommy Robredo of Spain; Bjorn Phau vs. Fernando Gonzalez; and Richard Gasquet vs. Rainer Schuettler.

No. 1 David Ferrer was knocked out of the event on Thursday, upset 6-3, 6-3 by Sela.