Second seeded Jelena Jankovic beat Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-5 for the first time in her career to reach the final act of the China Open, her eighth final of the season.

Jankovic won the first set and it took her 39 minutes. The second set was far from beautiful tennis as it abounded in unforced errors, but the Serbian was the one who prevailed to record her 70th victory of the season.

Serbia’s Jankovic will attempt to win her fifth trophy this season by beating whoever emerges victorious from the Hungarian Agnes Szavay and Chinese Peng Shuai clash.
China’s unseeded player is trained by Michael Chang in the run-up to next year's Beijing Olympics.

Szavay easily beat Argentinean Maria-Emilia Salerni 6-2, 6-4 in their quarterfinal; while   Peng Shuai upset third-seed Amelie Mauresmo in another of the quarterfinals, recovering from a set down to oust the two-time Grand Slam winner 4-6, 6-4, and 6-2.

Jankovic beat Japan's Akiko Morigami 6-3, 7-5, while Davenport reached the semifinals after brushing aside fourth seed Russian Elena Dementieva 7-6 (7-1), 6-1.

"My ultimate goal is to be the world number one. Now my ranking is very close, but I still have a long way to go. I need to work hard and I hope I can make it one day," the world number three said.

Davenport is aiming a WTA successful come-back after she recently became a mother. She brought to Asia her child, her mother, a hitting partner and a nanny. She was sticking to her plan as she was on an eight-match win streak over the past two weeks, ended by Jankovic.

"Three months ago I began to practice two or three hours a day," Davenport said about her training program. "For the 12 days in Asia I've been very healthy.”

"It's tough to come back, but I just keep doing my work and try to maintain stamina. It's really fun," she added.

The three-time Grand Slam winner said she plans to participate in her third and final event this autumn in Canada before taking a decision as to whether resume on the circuit in 2008.