Jankovic, Kuznetsova Move To U.S. Open Third Round; Davydenko Advances

Flushing Meadows, NY (AHN) - Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic shook an ailing knee and a determined Sofia Arvidsson in almost three hours, pulling off a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5 win that moved her to the third round of the U.S. Open Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Jankovic, a former world no. 1 in the women's rankings early this year, overcame an injured knee and squandered a 3-0 tiebreak lead in the second set. But the Serb mustered one final push down the stretch to frustrate the Swede and advance to the next round, where Jankovic will face Chinese Zheng Jie, a 6-1, 6-4 upset winner over no. 26 Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Aside from Jankovic, other fancied bets in the bottom half of the draw also advanced. No. 5 Elena Dementieva whipped Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 6-1; no. 15 seed Patty Schnyder ousted Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-3; and third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova eliminated Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (3), 6-1.

Eighth-seeded Vera Zvonareva was an unlikely upset victim as she lost to Tatiana Perebiynis 6-3, 6-3 and no. 25 Francesca Schiavone also exited, losing to Anne Keothavong 2-6, 6-3, 4-6.

In men's play, no. 5 seed Nikolay Davydenko had no problems disposing of Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to move to the second round opposite Agustin Calleri. The Argentine easily dispatched American Austin Krajicek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. No. 18 seed Nicolas Almagro and no. 19 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also hurdled their foes, with Almagro beating Canadian Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 and Tsonga outplaying Santiago Ventura-Bertomeu 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3.

Other scheduled matches Wednesday were no. 3 Novak Djokovic facing Frenchman Arnaud Clement, no. 8 Andy Roddick meeting 35-year-old Fabrice Santoro and Thomas Johansson squaring off against Ernests Gulbis.