Jankovic Bakes Bagel in Win at WTA Guangzhou

GUANGZHOU, China -- Seeded players made big impressions Tuesday at the Guangzhou International Women's Open. No.1 Jelena Jankovic, No.2 Li Na and No.4 Anabel Medina Garrigues drove in straight set victories. Unseeded Alicia Molic showed tremendous fighting spirit in an epic 3-hour, 13-minute battle.

Jankovic was in total control of China's Yuan Meng in a 60 62 rout. This summer, the Serb posted the best results of her life. She made the final at Los Angeles and reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open. Last week, she notched her sixth Top 10 win against Nadia Petrova in Beijing to reach a new career-high ranking (No.16).

Crowd favorite Li improved her Guangzhou record to 8-1, defeating Galina Voskoboeva, 63 64. The 2004 champion will face countrywoman Sun Tiantian in the second round of this Tier III event. Two years ago, Li lost only one set en route to her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title. After three qualifying matches, she knocked out two seeds, including Jankovic, and finished off Martina Sucha in the final.

Medina Garrigues swept aside Alina Jidkova, 61 63, and is now up against Chinese qualifier Ren Jing. No.8 Anastasiya Yakimova ousted Sun Shengnan, 62 61, to set up a meeting with Melinda Czink or Chen Yanchong.

Molik trailed 4-1 in the third set of a 67(5) 63 75 victory over Vania King. The former Top 10 star avenged a straight set loss suffered last month at the US Open. After a long injury layoff, Molik returned to Tour competition in May and notched her first couple of match wins of the season at Roland Garros. Her next match here is Wednesday against Lourdes Dominguez Lino.

Other Tuesday winners were Jelena Kostanic, Elise Tamaela and Jing Ren.
-- WTA