Jankovic beats pain, Davydenko breezes into Moscow quarters

MOSCOW (AFP) - World number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia battled through the pain barrier on Thursday to beat Russian Vera Dushevina and advance to the quarter-final of the Kremlin Cup, a 2.4-million-dollar joint ATP and WTA event.

But there was no such trauma for the ATP event's top seed, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia barely breaking sweat as he dispatched Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1.

Jankovic, 23, dropped the first set and was 2-0 down in the second before receiving on-court treatment and gaining her composure to win 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-2, her fourth win over Dushevina in their five head-to-head meetings.

"Today I felt pain in my back when I practised and during the match I was feeling more and more pain," Jankovic said. "It was really difficult to play as I was struggling the pain.

"I felt worse and worse and was even ready to quit playing when I was one set and 2-0 down.