Third seed Jelena Jankovic was upset 6-2 7-5 by Estonian world No.24 Kaia Kanepi in the third round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

After taking the first set without giving Jankovic one break point, seed No.16 Kanepi raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set. The world No.3, however, managed to come back, leveling the score at 5-5. Still, at 6-5 for Kanepi, when Jankovic was serving to force a tiebreak, she failed to hold her serve and Kanepi won the match.

Estonian Kaia Kanepi will play Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals. Vesnina, who upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round, advanced to the final eight when Dominika Cibulkova retired through illness in the third set.

Other third-round matches finished so far on Wednesday:

Venus Williams beat Alize Cornet 6-3 6-2, while Virginie Razzano followed up her win over second seed Dinara Safina by beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 1-6 6-2. Defending champion Elena Dementieva defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-3. Marion Bartoli also had to retire, because of blisters on both feet, so Vera Zvonareva went through. And finally, Ana Ivanovic put out Frenchwoman Camille Pin 6-2 7-6. The Serena Williams vs. Zheng Jie third-round match is currently in progress. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Amelie Mauresmo defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-2 0-6 6-1 in the semifinals of the Open GDF SUEZ. The other semifinal wasn’t played, as world No.1 Serena Williams pulled out of her encounter with Elena Dementieva.

Mauresmo handily won the first set 6-2, but Jankovic stormed back by winning seven games in a row to take the second set and lead 1-0 in the third. Jankovic, who is yet to impress with her game this year, lost all the following games and is now trailing Mauresmo 6-1 in head-to-head meetings.

Mauresmo’s next opponent will be Elena Dementieva, who was granted a walkover into Sunday's championship match as top seed Serena Williams pulled out with a right knee injury.

Williams on her injury:

I wasn't moving at all in practice, so there was really no chance for me to play today. I think I hurt it towards the end of my quarterfinal match. I guess I didn't have enough time to recover.

Still, the American is optimistic about her recovery:

I've just been playing a lot of tennis, so maybe this is a sign I'll need to take a day or two off and get ready for the next event, which is in two days. I'm going to make the effort to play there and do my best, and we'll just see what happens.

Mauresmo vs. Dementieva head-to-head record is very interesting. They have played 14 times so far, and Mauresmo leads 8-6. It goes into Dementieva’s favor that she has won their last two meetings in straight sets. However, their only meeting at the Paris tournament, which was in 2003, was won by Mauresmo 6-0 6-0. It was the only double bagel loss of Dementieva's career. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photos: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic reached the semifinals of the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris with a hard-fought victory over home favorite Alize Cornet, seeded fifth.

The Serb won the quarterfinal 7-5 4-6 6-4 on her second match point, after long 2 hours and 37 minutes of play. Unbelievably, out of 32 games played, as much as 19 were breaks of serve. I think that fact describes the match pretty well.

Let’s just mention one more thing: Jankovic had a 5-2 lead in the first set and was serving to win it, but the world No.13 Cornet won five consecutive games and earned herself the initial lead.

The world No.3 Jankovic will play either Amelie Mauresmo or Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World number three Jelena Jankovic reached the quarterfinals of the Open GDF SUEZ with a 6-0 3-6 6-2 victory over China’s Li Na.

Due to a right knee injury, Li hadn’t played any tournaments in 2009 prior to this one in Paris, and after the first set it looked as if Jankovic would make short work of the Chinese world No.28.

The second set continued in the similar manner, with Jankovic dominating, but after a 3-1 lead for the Serb, Li won all the following games in the set.

Eventually, Jankovic managed to win the third set, finishing it with being two breaks up.

Fifth seed Alize Cornet, who defeated Daniela Hantuchova 1-6 6-4 6-2 earlier today, will be Jankovic’s opponent in the quarterfinals. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Hihi this is juicy, Jelena Jankovic is fighting with Roger Federer via press.

Last month Federer commented that a player who has never won a Grand Slam should not be granted the number one spot, which was at the time Jankovic was at the top of the rankings, and today JJ fired back to the men’s tennis legend.

"To be honest, I do not like to talk about players, I really prefer to focus on myself," Jankovic, currently ranked third, said at the Paris Open.

"Why should he even care? I don't like putting my nose in other's business."

The Serb is celebrating Rafael Nadal’s humble personality.

"I mean, one thing I like about Nadal is that he is such a great champion, he is so humble, always has kind words for everybody, he is a role model for everybody. Federer is a great champion, I don't want to get in a fight with him but why does he care, I really don't understand. Why does he need to do that?"

Jankovic is currently in Paris for the Open GDF SUEZ, where she’ll face Italian Francesca Schiavone in the first round. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)