SAN DIEGO (California), Aug 1: Second seed Jelena Jankovic marked her return from a four-week layoff with a 6-3, 6-0 thrashing of American Vania King in the second-round of the San Diego Classic on Tuesday.

Playing her first tour level match since being upset by Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon fourth round on July 3, the athletic Serb was composed and consistent in ruthlessly disposing of King.

All the top seeds in action advanced, with No 4 Nadia Petrova of Russia knocking out compatriot Elena Bovina 6-3, 7-5, and fifth seed Bartoli of France beating Aiko Nakamura of Japan 7-6, 6-1.

Also playing her first match since Wimbledon was former world No 1 and seventh seed Martina Hingis, who battled past Dutch teenager Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-2.

Hingis nearly blew a 5-1 lead in the opening set, but her opponent missed an easy volley at 5-5, 0-30 and the Swiss regained control of the contest.

India's Sania Mirza, who reached her first Tier II final at Stanford last week, continued her fine form with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 upset of 12th seeded Shahar Peer of Israel in a first round encounter.

Still tired after her run at Stanford, Sania pressed the action in the third set in an attempt to end the contest quickly.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Second round: 4-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Elena Bovina (Russia) 6-3, 7-5; 2-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Vania King (US) 6-3, 6-0; 7-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) beat Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) 7-5, 6-2; 5-Marion Bartoli (France) beat Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

First round: Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) beat Julia Vakulenko (Ukraine) 6-1, 6-3; Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) beat Nicole Pratt (Australia) 6-1, 6-4; Virginie Razzano (France) beat Yaroslava Shvedova (Russia) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4; Sania Mirza (India) beat 12-Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) 6-3, 6-2; 15-Sybille Bammer (Austria) beat Katerina Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) beat Chan Yung-Jan (Taiwan) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; 16-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Meilen Tu (US) 6-4, 6-3; Meghann Shaughnessy (US) beat Olga Poutchkova (Russia) 6-3, 6-1.

RODDICK ON SONG

WASHINGTON: Top seed Andy Roddick blasted 18 aces to defeat Tomas Zib 6-4, 6-2 and storm into the third round of the Washington Classic on Tuesday.

Roddick successfully landed 61 percent of his first serves to keep his Czech opponent off-balance throughout the one-hour match. He lost only one of 33 first-serve points.

In a first-round match, Britain's 32-year-old Tim Henman lost to American wild card John Isner 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 after losing the third-set tiebreaker 7-4.

Henman, who suffered a knee injury last October and had hamstring problems in January, saw his record fall to 5-10 this year.

The 22-year-old Isner, a towering player at 6-foot-9, will play number eight seed Benjamin Becker in the second round.

Tuesday’s results:

Second round: Robin Haase (Netherlands) beat 14-Michael Llodra (France) 6-2, 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4); 3-Marat Safin (Russia) beat Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; 9-Gael Monfils (France) beat Martin Klizan (Slovakia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Paul Capdeville (Chile) beat 13-Amer Delic (US) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5; 1-Andy Roddick (US) beat Tomas Zib (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-2; 5-Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) beat Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-1.

First round: Paul Goldstein (US) beat Somdev Dev Varman (India) 6-4, 6-2; Wayne Odesnik (US) beat Adrian Garcia (Chile) 4-6, 6-3, 6-0; Kei Nishikori (Japan) beat Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; John Isner (US) beat Tim Henman (Britain) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Wesley Whitehouse (South Africa) beat Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; Michael Berrer (Germany) beat George Bastl (Switzerland) 6-3, 6-2; Wesley Moodie (South Africa) beat Ryan Sweeting (US) 6-3, 6-4.

REMARKABLE COMEBACK

SOPOT (Poland): Austrian Stefan Koubek made a remarkable recovery to upset fifth seeded Argentine Agustin Calleri 0-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the Polish Open at Sopot on Tuesday.

Koubek lost the first 10 games, was 5-1 down in the second set, 5-2 down in the third and saved four match points before taking the first round match. He will meet Belgian Kristof Vliegen next.

Another Argentine to suffer an upset was third seed Juan Ignacio Chela, ranked 20th, who lost 6-1, 6-2 to compatriot Sergio Roitman. It was Chela's second consecutive loss to Roitman after a three-set defeat at Kitzbuehel last week.

Top seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, the world No 4 and Sopot title holder, overwhelmed Romanian veteran Andrei Pavel 6-3, 6-4 and will meet Argentine Martin Vasallo Arguello in the second round on Wednesday.

Number two seed Tommy Robredo of Spain, ranked seventh, had to work hard to overcome Pole Lukasz Kubot, taking more than two hours for a 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 victory after a rain interruption in the third set.

Robredo served for the match at 5-3 in the second set but lost four games in a row. He then led 5-2 in the decider but allowed his opponent to come back to 5-5.

The Spaniard will next meet Belgian Steve Darcis who defeated Nicolas Massu of Chile 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

German Florian Mayer, runner-up to Davydenko last year, beat Argentine Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6-3, 6-3 and will now meet French qualifier Olivier Patience, who overcame hard-serving Polish wild card Dawid Olejniczak 7-6, 6-4.

Tuesday’s results:

First round: 1-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Andrei Pavel (Romania) 6-3, 6-4; Boris Pasanski (Serbia) beat 8-Potito Starace (Italy) 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 3-1 – Starace retired; 2-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Lukasz Kubot (Poland) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5; Gilles Simon (France) beat Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 6-0, 7-6 (8-6); Steve Darcis (Belgium) beat Nicolas Massu (Chile) 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-0), 6-4; Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) beat Luis Horna (Peru) 6-2, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3; Olivier Patience (France) beat Dawid Olejniczak (Poland) 7-6 (7-0), 6-4; Martin Vassallo Arguello (Argentina) beat Maximo Gonzalez (Argentina) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Igor Andreev (Russia) beat Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 6-0, 6-4; Stefan Koubek (Austria) beat 5-Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 0-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5; 7-Florian Mayer (Germany) beat Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Argentina) 6-3, 6-3; Sergio Roitman (Argentina) beat 3-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-1, 6-2.—Reuters

Opinion

Editorial

Centre vs provinces
Updated 10 Jun, 2026

Centre vs provinces

The reason the centre finds itself in this position is rooted in its failure to expand the tax net and boost revenues.
Party in crisis
10 Jun, 2026

Party in crisis

THE young KP chief minister must be starting to realise just how thorny a seat he occupies. There has been a flurry...
Varsity woes
10 Jun, 2026

Varsity woes

FINANCIAL crises affecting public sector universities across Pakistan are now having an impact on academic...
Doctor attacked
09 Jun, 2026

Doctor attacked

AN act of reprehensible violence has shaken the medical community. On Saturday, an employee of the Provincial Civil...
AJK flare-up
Updated 09 Jun, 2026

AJK flare-up

The situation started deteriorating after a trader affiliated with the JAAC was reportedly shot in an altercation with law-enforcers.
Fault lines
09 Jun, 2026

Fault lines

THE April 8 ceasefire that halted hostilities between Israel and Iran has encountered its most serious test yet....