Jankovic wins tough match at Charleston

CHARLESTON, S.C., April 16 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic downed Alexandra Stevenson 7-5, 6-0 Wednesday in a second-round match at the Family Circle Cup tennis tournament in Charleston, S.C.

The event's defending champion encountered stiff competition in the first set when she dropped two service games.

In the second set, the Serbian star did not lose a game but had to save three break points.

On Thursday, she faces a quarterfinal match against Russian Anastasia Rodionova.

Elsewhere on Wednesday, Rodionova beat France's Aravane Rezai 6-3 6-4; No. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia beat American Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-2; No. 7 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland topped Olga Govortsova of Belarus 7-6 (7-2), 6-0; and No. 9 seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia trounced Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1, 6-0.

Other winners Wednesday included No. 11 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and No. 12 Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia.