DUBAI, 28 February 2008 — World No. 4 Jelena Jankovic spent almost the whole of a two-hour, 14-minute match trailing before narrowly surviving against Sania Mirza in the second round of the Dubai Open.

The Serbian beat the Indian 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 but there were many moments when it seemed that the unseeded Sania, who led 3-1 in the final set and had three points for 5-3 and an opportunity to serve for the match, was going to win.

The 21-year-old Mumbai-based player from Hyderabad often swung her better-known opponent about the court with early, flat-hit drives, and also hit a high ratio of clean winners.

But just when it seemed she had Jankovic on the back foot, errors crept into Sania’s game, the return of serve she sent long from a moderate second serve on the third break point being particularly wayward.

But Sania also provided many rousing moments with her forthright style, bringing plenty of noise from the large expatriate crowd and contributing a great deal to the entertainment.

Once Jankovic spoke to some of them as though she were trying to quieten them down.

“They were making a sudden noise during the rallies, which was disturbing, and I asked them to wait until the end of the rallies to do it,” she said. “But they didn’t.” Jankovic paid tribute to the exciting ability of Sania to attack but admitted, when questioned, that she had not been feeling at her best and was disappointed with her movement.

She also said she was giving a trial to a new coach, Scott Humphries, and suggested that this was causing some confusion at the moment.

“I am struggling with him at the moment as we are in a trial period,” she said. “I am trying to do the things I did before and he is doing something different, so I don’t know what I am doing.

“I’ll know in a week or two whether the arrangement will last,” she added.

Sania was left cursing herself for thinking too far ahead.

“A lot has to do with finishing a match and a lot of thoughts come to your mind. You think ‘can I do it, can I not do it?’ “Funnily, when I tried to be more careful that’s when you can make mistakes. I was trying to put the ball inside the court — that’s why I lost those important points.

“Everyone starts thinking about the finish line before you get to it. I should learn from it and maybe next time I will hit through the ball more.” Jankovic next plays Anna Chakvetadze, the sixth-seeded Russian, who survived an even longer contest, lasting more than three hours, and came back from a set and 1-4 down to beat her fellow Muscovite, Dinara Safina, by 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-3.

After a bathroom break before the third set Chakvetadze felt fresher and began to play better but the contest hinged just on a point or two in the final set when Chakvetadze made the crucial break of the Safina serve.

Earlier another Russian, the second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, won impressively, by 6-1, 6-2 against Lucie Safarova, the world No. 40 from the Czech Republic.

Kuznetsova admitted to having been fascinated by the magician at the players’ party the night before and wishing she had some of his skills.

With ten aces and a large number of winners, she made a pretty good job of emulating him, often making the ball unexpectedly disappear.

Her next opponent is Amelie Mauresmo, the former world No. 1 from France, who beat Akiko Morigami of Japan, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and now has a chance of winning three matches in a row for the first time since Wimbledon, eight months ago.

Tipsarveic, Rochus Advance to

Quarterfinals at Zagreb Indoors

In Zagreb, Croatia, eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic defeated Roko Karanusic 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in the second round of the Zagreb Indoors yesterday.

Tipsarevic saved six break points in the first set, but failed to convert a match point in the second. Karanusic then led 4-3 in the decider before Tipsarevic could close out the hard-fought match.

Olivier Rochus also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating Stefan Koubek, 6-2, 6-4. Koubek reached the final in Zagreb in 2006, losing to Ivan Ljubicic. Ljubicic is this year’s top seed and faced fellow Croatian Lovro Zovko later.

Also yesterday, Teimuraz Gabashvili defeated Rik De Voest 7-5, 6-1, and Sergiy Stakhovsky ousted Viktro Troicki 7-6, 3-6, 6-4.