It only took Jelena Jankovic less than two hours to advance to the quarterfinals of the Jiangxi Women's Tennis Open in Nanchang, China. The no. 1 seed defeated homegrown Chang Liu 6-3 6-1 to secure a meeting with fifth seed Duan Ying-Ying.

The Serb stormed in the first set scoring three breaks and dropping her serve only once to take it in dominant fashion. In the second set, Jankovic's baseline attack continued, breaking her opponentthrice once again to seal the victory.

Like Us on Facebook

In her post-match interview, the former no. 1 expressed high hopes for the Chinese players and gave a few tips for their future progress.

"For young Chinese players, it's important to believe in themselves and work extremely hard to make their dreams come true," she said. "I think they have a bright future and soon there will be another Li Na. She achieved so much and inspired other Chinese players to be like her. Just work hard, believe in yourself and do your best."

The win brings Jankovic to her first meeting with Duan who booked her quarterfinal spot after beating Zhang Ling 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The bottom half of the draw, meanwhile, sees Jia-Jing Lu who defeated Junri Namigata in a close 3-set match and South Korea's Na-Lae Han who toppled Yuxuan Zhang. Seventh seed Yafan Wang is also through to the quarters after eliminating Japanese qualifier Erika Sema in straight sets. She will face Taiwan's Kai-Chen Chang who beat Kai-Lin Zhang 3-6 6-1 6-3.

Elsewhere, at the Baku Cup in Azerbaijan, second seed Karin Knapp advanced to the semifinals by defeating Alexandra Panova. The Italian, who's fresh from a tight loss against Sam Stosur in Bad Gastein, didn't let up her powerful game and continued to soar in the draw with a 6-2 7-6 (7-4) win after two hours and 3 minutes. Next up for her is Margarita Gasparyan who is on to her first WTA semifinals after the young Russian defeated compatriot Evgeniya Rodina in straight sets.

Patricia Maria Tig of Romania also advanced to the semifinals after defeating Donna Vekic 6-3 6-2. She will face no. 1 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who just defeated former Top 20 player Kirsten Flipkens 6-1 6-3.

TagsJelena Jankovic, nanchang china tennis, jiangxi tennis scores, baku cup, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Karin Knapp, tennis scores