By John Bagratuni Oct 6, 2006, 0:00 GMT
Stuttgart, Germany - Jelena Jankovic struggled through the cramp barrier to make the quarter-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, which lost French world number 1 Amelie Mauresmo Thursday due to injury.
Mauresmo, 27, had to withdraw from the 650,000-dollar indoor tournament with a right shoulder strain, hours ahead of her scheduled second-round match with Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands after a first-round bye.
Jankovic, the eighth-seeded US Open semi-finalist, then provided some midnight drama in her match with Bulgarian teenager and qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova.
The Serbian cramped at 4-2 in the third set and required medical treatment, then lost a 5-2 lead but eventually won 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in 2 hours, 35 minutes in the early minutes of Friday, with the final set alone lasting 1:15 hours.
Jankovic slumped to the floor at the end of the match and could hardly walk back to the net for the post-match handshake with the courageous Pironkova.
Earlier, third-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova ousted German Anna- Lena Groenefeld from the tournament for the second straight year, 6- 3, 6-4.
Number 5 seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated Israeli teenager Shahar Peer, 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-4, and sixth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina crashed 6-2, 6-2 against Daniela Hantuchova one week after beating the Slovak in straight sets in Luxembourg.
Tatiana Golovin of France beat Czech Iveta Benesova 6-3, 6-4. Krajicek defeated lucky loser Lisa Raymond of the US, 6-4, 6-2, as Raymond failed to capitalize on her short-notice appearance in the main draw in place of the injured Mauresmo.
'I felt something in the shoulder at the end of Monday's practice. I obviously hoped that I could play, but I felt pain again in practice today. It is disappointing,' said Mauresmo. 'It was a tough decision to make but a right decision.'
She said it was too early to know whether she will be fit to play next week in Moscow.
The injury to Mauresmo, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year and was a runner-up at the Porsche event in 2004 and 2005, was the latest blow for the tournament, formerly held in Filderstadt.
Other stars such as French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne (world number 2) and US Open winner Maria Sharapova (number 3) did not come to Stuttgart at all.
Tournament organizer Markus Gunthardt called Mauresmo's withdrawal 'a heavy loss' as the tournament could now turn into a Russian championship between seeds 2-4: Svetlana Kuznetsova, Petrova and Elena Dementieva.
Kuznetsova and Dementieva won their second-round matches Wednesday, and Petrova then beat Groenefeld Thursday for the fifth time in six meetings.
On Friday, Kuznetsova plays Jankovic, Petrova meets Hantuchova, Dementieva faces Schnyder and Krajicek takes on Golovin.
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