By Xinhua
Los Angeles : Ana Ivanovic saved two match points to beat Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the East West Bank Classic here and faced Russian Nadia Petrova in the final.
Top seed Maria Sharapova pulled out of the semi-final against Petrova 20 minutes before her match with Petrova due to a lower left leg strain.
“I can function sitting on my butt and talking, I am fine,” the top seed said. “But running around on the tennis court, no.”
World number two Sharapova said the injury occurred Saturday afternoon on the practise court.
She tried various treatments — deep tissue massage, an ice bath, acupuncture and taking anti-inflammatories — in an attempt to play.
The Russian has already withdrawn from next week’s tournament in Toronto.
She went on court Saturday evening and apologized to the waiting fans at the Home Depot Center.
World number five Ivanovic, who beat her fellow Serb for the fourth time in five meetings, won the last three games to book her place in the final.
Jankovic controlled much of the action early on, adeptly moving her taller opponent around the court by mixing drop shots and short angled winners.
But in the second set, Ivanovic began to serve much better and took more risks on her groundstrokes. She broke Jankovic to 4-2 when her rival missed an easy forehand.
After fighting off three break points with scorching winners, Ivanovic won the set 6-3 on her fourth set point when Jankovic missed a forehand.
Jankovic put on an impressive defensive display to race out to a 4-1 lead in the third set, but Ivanovic eventually broke back to 4-3 with a vicious inside-out forehand winner.