Impressive Jankovic sweeps into Italian Open semi-finals

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ROME, May 18 (Reuters) Third seed Jelena Jankovic continued her good form on clay when she swept aside former French Open finalist Elena Dementieva 6-2 6-1 to reach the semi-finals of the Italian Open today.

The 22-year-old Serb, who is trying to win her second claycourt title of the season after beating Venus Williams in the Family Circle Cup in Charleston last month, dragged her opponent from one side of the court to the other with powerful, angled groundstrokes.

After an early exchange of breaks, Jankovic broke in the sixth game and then again in the eighth, chasing down a dropshot to stroke a forehand winner down the line to take the first set in 35 minutes.

She continued to dominate in the second set, holding off break points in the opening game, before whipping a backhand past her rival to break in the second game. She went 4-0 up when her opponent double-faulted on break point.

Tenth seed Dementieva, who finished runner-up at Roland Garros in 2004, pulled one break back, but Jankovic rallied to restore her two-break cushion in the following game before holding serve to close out the contest.

In the semi-final she will face the winner of the later match between 2002 champion Serena Williams and 14th seed Patty Schnyder.

Reuters AKD DB1843