Jankovic escapes to Andalucia semifinals

MARBELLA, Spain, April 10 (UPI) -- Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic survived a third-set tiebreaker in quarterfinal play at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Spain.

Jankovic needed to rally to get by unseeded Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) and make the semifinals of the clay-court tournament. Vinci took the first set as Jankovic lost half of her six service games in the set.

But Jankovic didn't face a break point in the second set before the see-saw third set ended in a lengthy tiebreaker. The match took nearly three hours to complete.

Fourth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues was also pushed to three sets Friday before claiming a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 decision from No. 6-seeded Sara Errani.

Fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro was the only straight-set winner Friday, rolling to a 6-1, 6-2, victory over Klara Zakopalova in 55 minutes.

The fourth quarterfinal saw seventh-seeded Sorana Cirstea upset No. 3-seeded Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.

Saturday's semifinals pit Jankovic against Medina Garrigues, the local crowd favorite, and Suarez Navarro against Cirstea.

The semifinal winners will square off Sunday with a check of $112,303 going to the tournament champion.