King Stretches Jankovic in Loss at Quebec City

QUEBEC CITY, Canada -- It was no surprise that the second round match between Jelena Jankovic and Vania King turned out to be a thriller. Both players entered the Bell Challenge in excellent form, and their most recent encounter at Wimbledon also was a nail-biter.

The older and more experienced player emerged the winner both times. Jankovic defeated the 17-year-old American, 46 61 64, Thursday to enter her 11th quarterfinal of the season. The Serb also needed three sets to beat King in the second round of Wimbledon earlier this year. She faces another in-form opponent, No.8-seeded Olga Poutchkova, on Friday.

World No.49 Poutchkova ousted Germany's Tanja Ostertag, 57 61 62. The Russian posted several impressive results over the last couple months. She reached the Kolkata final in only her fifth ever Sony Ericsson WTA Tour-level singles main draw, followed up with a run to the Tashkent semis and made her Top 50 debut.

No.4 seed Severine Bremond downed German qualifier Greta Arn, 61 64, Thursday to set up a meeting with 2004 champion Martina Sucha. The Frenchwoman presents herself in best form. After making her third Tour quarterfinal of the year at Bali, she reached her first Tour singles semifinal last month at Bangkok.

American qualifier Lilia Osterloh eliminated Anastassia Rodionova, 64 61, on Thursday and will face the only Canadian left in the draw, Aleksandra Wozniak, in her quarterfinal. No.2 Marion Bartoli is up against No.6 Shenay Perry.
-- WTA