World number four Jelena Jankovic fought back from a set down to beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the Andalucia Tennis Championships on Friday. The Serbian second seed, by far the highest-ranked player left in the tournament after Wednesday's shock exit of world number one Serena Williams, found it tough going against the 67th-ranked Vinci on the clay in Marbella. She will play Anabel Medina Garrigues on Saturday for a place in Sunday's final after the Spanish fourth seed beat sixth-seeded Italian Sara Errani 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 in their quarterfinal earlier on Friday. The other semifinal will feature Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, who trounced Williams' conqueror Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 and Romania's Sorana Cirstea, who came through 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 against Kaia Kanepi of Estonia. Injury-hampered Williams lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to Zakopalova in the first round on Wednesday. Petrova in semis Top-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia defeated Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to advance to the semifinals of The MPS Group Championships in Florida on Friday. She will play on Saturday against fifth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada, who outlasted Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7). On Thursday, second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki moved into the quarterfinals by beating France's Virginie Razzano 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday. Wozniacki's sixth quarterfinal in seven tournaments this year will be against Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova, who beat No. 8 Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-3, 7-5 in the late match. Wozniak fought off Germany's Sabine Lisicki to win 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4 and Paszek reached her first tour quarterfinals since September with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Varvara Lepchenko of the United States, who replaced a fatigued Jelena Dokic in the draw. The top-seeded doubles team of American Lisa Raymond and Kveta Peschke will meet Wozniacki and Strycova in the semifinals. Raymond and Peschke beat American Carly Gullickson and Taiwan's Chin-Wei Chan 6-0, 7-5. The second-seeds, China's Shuai Peng and Zi Yan lost to American Angela Haynes and Liga Dekmeijere 7-6 (3), 6-4. Andreev, Ferrero in semis In Casablanca, top-seeded Igor Andreev of Russia beat No. 6 Marc Gicquel of France 6-1, 6-3 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II. He will play 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, who defeated fourth-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 7-5. Third-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain edged Frederico Gil of Portugal 7-6 (5), 6-4, and No. 5 Florent Serra of France downed Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-0, 6-4. Korolev, Phau advance In Houston, Tommy Haas of Germany rallied to beat defending champion Marcel Granollers of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 Thursday in the second round of the US Men's Clay Court event. Granollers' loss left the tournament without a seeded player in the quarterfinals, which hadn't happened in the clay court tournament since pro tennis went to the open era in 1968. Earlier, Evgeny Korolev of Russia fought through rough wind and a comeback try by Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain for a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory in the second round. Bjorn Phau of Germany, who eliminated second-seeded Mardy Fish in the first round, beat Scoville Jenkins of the United States 6-4, 7-6 (2) in another second-round match. Guillermo Canas of Argentina defeated American Taylor Dent 6-2, 6-2 to grab the final quarterfinal spot.
