Zheng dumps Ivanovic out of China tennis open

BEIJING (AFP) - Former world number one Ana Ivanovic crashed out of the China Open on Friday, beaten by home favourite Zheng Jie in a marathon quarter-final clash.

In the men's draw, defending champion and third seed Fernando Gonzalez lost to 137-ranked Bjorn Phau in three sets.

Ivanovic, the second seed here, lost 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-4 to her Wimbledon conqueror in a match lasting almost three hours.

The French Open champion had fought her way back into the match, taking the second set despite an error-strewn display.

But China's world number 30 was quickly into her stride in the third set, breaking the Ivanovic serve in the first game. Despite further breaks for both players, the tenacious Zheng held her nerve to take the decider.

"She was playing really well. My first serve wasn't going as well as I'd hoped for. I think that was the biggest difference," Ivanovic said, adding she had not been aggressive enough with her returns.

Zheng, 25, who has three career WTA titles, shocked Ivanovic at Wimbledon, beating the then top seed in the third round before going on to reach the semi-finals.

Ivanovic is among a group of players behind current number one Serena Williams chasing the top ranking, which also includes the top seed here, Jelena Jankovic.

But she has had a poor run, including her early exit at Wimbledon and a second round defeat at the US Open, and has also been hit by injuries.

Zheng's win means she has matched the best-ever performance by a Chinese player at this tournament and she will go on to meet Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semi-final.

Elsewhere on quarter-finals day in Beijing, men's sixth seed Tommy Robredo was beaten convincingly 6-4, 6-1 by Israel's world number 92 Dudi Sela, who put out top seed David Ferrer in the previous round.

Sela, who will play Germany's Rainer Schuettler in his first ATP tour semi-final, said he came into the Beijing tournament full of confidence after his team's Davis Cup win over Peru at the weekend.

"He (Robredo) has much more experience than me but I gave my best and I knew this moment I'm playing very good," he said.

Schuettler beat French fourth seed Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Germany's Phau, particularly impressive on the backhand side in his 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 over Gonzalez, came back strongly after conceding the second set, breaking the Chilean in the fifth game of the decider.

He will meet either top seed Andy Roddick or Spanish former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final four.

In other matches, Russia's Vera Zvonareva beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, 6-0, 6-1 in just 51 minutes and Kuznetsova beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-4.