Top seed Jelena Jankovic lost in straight sets in the second round of the Mercury Insurance Open to Alisa Kleybanova, despite leading 4-0 in the first set. Jankovic even had three set points at 5-3, but Kleybanova won eight straight games to take the score to 7-5 4-0 and eventually win the match 7-5 6-2.

The second-ranked Jankovic said she was afraid to run a lot because it was just her first match since injuring her left ankle in Portoroz two weeks ago. The world No.28 Kleybanova defeated Jankovic two times in 2009 and now leads their head-to-head record 3-2.

The 21-year-old Russian, who won her first WTA title in Kuala Lumpur in February, has reached only her third quarterfinal of the season. (photo: John Bolan)

Ana Ivanovic’s second-round match against Alisa Kleybanova was delayed by rain, but the inevitable was apparently waiting for Ivanovic and the former French Open champion lost with a stunning 6-3 6-0 score, with sets lasting 33 minutes each.

This has been Ivanovic’s earliest exit at the French Open ever! However, losing to Kleybanova is nothing new to the former world No.1 Ivanovic, as it has happened three of four times they played.

Kleybanova’s victory over Ivanovic at the 2010 French Open is not an upset, since the Russian is seeded 28th and Ivanovic’s low ranking, No.42 at present, ensured she wasn’t seeded. Both players had 6 break points in the match: Kleybanova converted five, while Ivanovic converted only one.

Kleybanova reached her first third round at the French Open, where she will play either eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Yaroslava Shvedova. (photo: sr_cranks)

World number nine Jelena Jankovic reached her first semifinal of the season by beating Alisa Kleybanova 6-4 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The sixth-seeded Serb, a semifinalist at Indian Wells two years ago, won four straight games to come back from 2-4 down in the second set and win the error-strewn quarterfinal against the 23rd-seeded Russian. Jankovic made 21 unforced errors, while Kleybanova piled up a total of 40. However, the Russian was better in the number of winners, hitting 19 compared to Jankovic’s seven.

The 20-year-old Kleybanova was coming off her maiden WTA title at the Malaysian Open last month, and Jankovic ended her eight-match winning streak.

Jankovic’s semifinal opponent will be the winner of the Samantha Stosur vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez match. The other two already known semifinalists are good friends Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska. (photo by our reader Colleen)

Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova overcame both a rain delay and top-seeded compatriot Elena Dementieva to win her first WTA title at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

The fourth-seeded Kleybanova survived some tough matches prior to the final, but in the title match she dominated one of the best players at the moment and cruised to a 6-3 6-2 victory.

Prior to the clash with heavy-hitting world No.29 Kleybanova, the seventh-ranked Dementieva hadn’t dropped a set in Kuala Lumpur and actually lost only an average of less than two games per set.

Before the 2010 Malaysian Open, Kleybanova’s best career singles results were semifinal finishes at Fès, Toronto and Moscow. (photo AP via Yahoo)

Eighth seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and in that way avenged the loss to the Russian in the third round of the Australian Open last month. The world number eight Ivanovic beat Kleybanova, ranked 27th, 7-5 6-4.

Ivanovic established a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Kleybanova managed to return from being one break down and eventually leveled at 4-4. Ivanovic, however, managed to break once again, in the 12th game, and take the first set 7-5. The second set saw no breaks of serve until the final game when Kleybanova surrendered to Ivanovic and lost the match on Ivanovic’s second match point.

The 21-year-old Serb, who is playing her first tournament since hiring coach Craig Kardon, will play either Urszula Radwanska or Camille Pin in the third round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.