Sania gives Jankovic a scare at Dubai Championships

Dubai: Jelena Jankovic was stretched to the limit before edging past Sania Mirza to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Championships on Wednesday.

The fourth-seeded Serb needed two hours 14 minutes to win 4-6,6-3,6-4 having faced defeat when Sania held three break points to lead 5-3 in the final set.

"She gave me a hard time on the court," said Jankovic, who was distracted by what she considered some questionable calls by the Hawkeye line-judging system and over-enthusiasm by Sania's supporters during some of the rallies.

"Despite her playing well and hitting the ball very solid I was also just struggling with my game," added the Serb.

"I had trouble with my shots. I couldn't set up and I was making quite a lot of errors. When I had the shot I would miss it or I would do something that was not really the best option. But I tried to hang in there and managed to win," she said after her win over the Indian.

Sixth-seed Anna Chakvetadze also survived a strong challenge before winning 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 against fellow Russian Dinara Safina.

Amelie Mauresmo earned a victory to boost her fragile confidence by edging past Japan's Akiko Morigami 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The Frenchowman has slipped out of the world's top 20 following a poor run of form that began 11 months ago after she underwent an emergency appendectomy.

Proper level

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had a much easier passage into the last eight, taking under an hour to defeat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-1,6-2.

After her loss to Sybille Bammer in miserable conditions in Qatar last week, she was happy to be able to play at her proper level once again.

"I'm very pleased with that," said the Russian.

"I was focused and serving very well. I was enjoying myself and that is very important after the (windy) conditions last week (in Qatar)."

Bizarrely, she utilised a rule that allowed her to call her coach to court, despite winning the opening set with such ease.

"He is only travelling with me these two weeks, but maybe in the future he will come more," she said.

"It's like practice for if a match is going to be closer and I call him and don't know what to expect. I mean, I know him very well but it's good practice before tough matches."

Later on Wednesday, world No. 1 and holder Justine Henin plays Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik and Australian Open finalist Ana Ivanovic faces Czech Nicole Vaidisova.