Tokyo: Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic overpowered Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Pan Pacific Open on Thursday.
The Serbian, who finished 2008 as the top-ranked women's player in the world, never looked in danger of following the top six seeds out of the $2 million Tokyo event.
"It makes a big difference when my mind is on tennis," Jankovic told reporters after beating Bartoli for the first time in their last five meetings. "I play at another level."
"So many things happened this year. My mum got sick and had surgery. Before my US Open second round (defeat last month) my grandmother died. Tennis became secondary because other things were more important in life," she said.
Jankovic completed victory over Bartoli by forcing the 14th seed to dump a backhand into the net to end a point which neatly encapsulated their match.
A tournament which boasted nine of the world's top 10 players has only two left with the world No. 9 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus playing later on Thursday.
World No. 1 Dinara Safina, second seed Venus Williams and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova all lost their opening matches after first-round byes.
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