NEW YORK: Second seed Jelena Jankovic came through another bruising battle at the US Open yesterday, edging past Zheng Jie 7-5, 7-5 to reach the fourth round.

The Serbian, chasing her first Grand Slam title, scrambled into the last 16 after two hours nine minutes and will meet 14th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or Caroline Wozniacki, the Danish 21st seed.

Having been pushed to three sets in the previous round, Jankovic again became embroiled in a tough encounter as Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng matched her from the baseline.

World No. 37 Zheng saved four match points in a marathon 12th game of the second set which featured 11 deuces but Jankovic finally clinched victory when the Chinese netted a forehand.

• The women’s tennis world was turned upside down Thursday when unheralded qualifier Julie Coin beat top-seeded Ana Ivanovic in the second round of the US Open.

The world’s No. 1 was beaten 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 by the world’s No. 188. It was the first time in the Open era that a top women’s seed had lost so early at the US Open. “What I experienced so far is girls, when they play against higher-ranked players, they have nothing to lose so they go for their shots,” Ivanovic said.

In other results Thursday, the leading men’s seeds all progressed to the third round. Top seed Rafael Nadal cruised past American Ryler De Heart 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. The No. 7 David Nalbandian of Argentina also won in straight sets, beating Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, as did No.10 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-2 over American Wayne Odesnik. Home-town favorite James Blake also went through when his Belgian opponent Steve Darcis was forced to retire with a back injury when the match was even a set-all. No. 4 seed David Ferrer and No. 6 Andy Murray both won through in tight fourth-set tiebreaks. Spaniard Ferrer beat Germany’s Andreas Beck 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 while Briton Murray got past France’s Michael Llodra 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, 7-6. Next up for Coin in the third round is former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo of France, who beat Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi 2-6, 6-4, 6-0. Coin and Mauresmo once played at the same club near Paris and shared the same coach, yet don’t know each other well. On the men’s side, the major casualties were France’s No. 24 Paul-Henri Mathieu, who was beaten 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 by American Mardy Fish, and No. 25 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who was down a set and a break when he retired against in-form Serb Viktor Troicki. In the women’s draw, Hungary’s No. 13 Agnes Szavay was beaten 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 by Italian Tathiana Garbin, while No. 20 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic was eliminated by France’s Severine Bremond, 7-5, 6-3.

Sania Mirza vows

to return fitter

In New Delhi, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is confident of getting over her current injury crisis and bouncing back into the top 50 soon with the help of a new trainer.

Mirza, 21, slipped from a career-best high of 27 in August last year to 70 in the latest WTA rankings after an injury-plagued season in 2008.

“It is naturally very frustrating for her to miss tournaments,” Mirza’s father, Imran Mirza, told AFP from the family base in Hyderabad yesterday. “But she understands injuries are a tennis player’s professional hazard and part and parcel of a sportsman’s career. “She is very positive and looking forward to bounce back soon,” he said. Mirza injured her right wrist during the Indian Wells tournament in March and was forced to have surgery a month later. Mirza, who also withdrew from the ongoing US Open, has signed up trainer Amir Takla, a consultant with Tennis Australia.

“Takla is scheduled to arrive this weekend and will work with Sania for a period of six weeks,” father Imran said.

“The goal is to ensure her wrist recovers to its original strength, but at the same time the focus will also be toward optimizing her overall physical fitness.” Imran refused to set a date for her return to the circuit, saying it was too early to predict.

“It is difficult to fix a timeframe for being back in competition even before work toward her rehabilitation has begun,” he said.

“But we are looking at Sania playing a few tournaments later in the year to prepare for next year’s Australian Open.”