Jankovic battles past Bammer into quarters

NEW YORK, Sep 3 (Reuters) Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic shook off a second-set lapse and an early break in the third to roar into the quarter-finals of the US Open with a 6-4 4-6 6-1 victory over Sybille Bammer of Austria.

After dropping her serve in the first game of the deciding set, Jankovic reeled off six straight games against the 27-year-old Bammer to set up a clash against Wimbledon champion Venus Williams.

The 12th-seeded Williams, a two-times US Open winner, crushed Serbian fifth seed Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-2 to advance.

Jankovic said her cause was not helped by being forced to wait for two men's five-setters to finish before her match was able to start in the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

''Being here all day, I was quite exhausted,'' the 22-year-old Jankovic told reporters.

''I had to drink coffee before the match to stay awake.'' Jankovic said she had arrived at the National Tennis Center in time to practice at 1:00 p.m. The Serb, a semi-finalist here last year, did not start her match until about 9:00 p.m.

''I was waiting and warming up a few times and just hanging around the locker rooms,'' she said.

''It was very bad but at the end of day I'm very happy. When you come up as a winner you don't care what happened.'' Jankovic opted to go for broke in the final set despite feeling sluggish.

''By the third set, I said, 'I will do it no matter what. I'm just going to hang in there and move my feet and swing at the ball a lot faster and I'm gonna play aggressive and I'm gonna win.

''I found this kind of energy inside of me and that's what I did.'' Jankovic, who needed three sets to beat teenage French qualifier Alize Cornet in the third round, said having to work hard for victories would not affect her confidence.

''When you're winning matches and you're not playing your greatest tennis, it's a good thing,'' she said.

Bammer blasted 17 winners in the second set and broke Jankovic three times to set up the third set. Overall, the Austrian 19th seed was undone by 49 unforced errors.

Jankovic holds a 3-2 head-to-head series lead against the 27-year-old Williams, winning their last three encounters, including third-round victories at the 2007 French and last year's Wimbledon championships.

Reuters TB GC1220