Jankovic legs out triumph before her leg gives out

NEW YORK – Jelena Jankovic’s leg cramped so badly, she couldn’t take another step.

Luckily for the No. 2 seed in the U.S. Open, the agony occurred during her postmatch run on the treadmill. Anyone who watched could clearly see she left about everything she had out on the court.

Jankovic outlasted Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5 Wednesday on yet another uncharacteristically mild August day in Flushing Meadows. She planned to take a 10-minute run on the treadmill but lasted only three when pain flared in the area of a knee injury sustained at Wimbledon.

“I couldn’t go anymore,” Jankovic said. “My leg was straight and I couldn’t bend it. The muscle was in spasm and I had a lot of pain.”

Treatment with ice and stretching and massaging loosened her leg enough for her to go back to the locker room to take a shower before she spoke to reporters in a much more comfortable setting.

Until then, it was Arvidsson who made her life difficult for the better part of three hours.

“That was a really tough one,” said Jankovic, who has reached the fourth round in the first three Grand Slam events this year. “As you can see, I am completely out of breath. She really pushed me to the limit.”

While Jankovic escaped an early exit, No. 8 seed Vera Zvonareva couldn’t. Zvonareva was upended by Tatiana Perebiynis 6-3, 6-3 in the tournament’s biggest upset yet.

No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova shook off an early break and rallied to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Sorana Cirstea. Fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva advanced over Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 6-1. No. 12 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 14 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and No. 15 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland also won. Former champ Lindsay Davenport, the No. 23 seed, beat Alisa Kleybanova 7-5, 6-3. No. 25 Francesca Schiavone was knocked out by Anne Keothavong 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, and Zheng Jie of China eliminated No. 26 Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1, 6-4.

In men’s first-round play, No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic shook off an injury to his left ankle in the third set and beat Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Dudi Sela 6-3, 6-3, 6-3; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the No. 19 seed, moved on with a 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 win over Santiago Ventura; and No. 18 Nicolas Almagro beat Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Eighth-seeded Andy Roddick beat Fabrice Santoro – the oldest man in the draw at 35 – 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.