Jankovic through to Moscow final

Jelena Jankovic stormed back from a dismal start to beat defending champion Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals of the Kremlin Cup.

The top-seeded Serbian was outplayed by her Russian opponent in the opening set, but hit back in stunning fashion to claim a 0-6 6-1 6-0 victory.

The result allowed Jankovic to stretch her winning run to 11 matches as she ousted the third seed in 77 minutes.

She next will face seventh seed Vera Zvonareva, who defeated second seed Dinara Safina 6-2 7-6 (7/5) in an all-Russian semi-final.

Jankovic, who overtook Serena Williams at the top of the world rankings on Monday, is chasing her third title in as many events.

Any thoughts of claiming the championship in Moscow seemed unlikely though after the 23-year-old lost each of her 12 return points in the first set while winning just five of 20 service points.

But Jankovic quickly rebounded, claiming six of 11 break points over the next two sets to earn the victory and advance to her sixth final of the season.

The win was Jankovic’s sixth in nine career meetings against Dementieva, who had been hoping to make her fourth appearance in the final of her hometown event.