Jelena Jankovic is gunning for Serena Williams' top-spot

Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic and unheralded Dudi Sela advanced to their respective finals of the China Open as Jankovic sets her sights on regaining her world number one status.

Jankovic fought off Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the women's semi-finals, while the unseeded Sela downed Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-3, 6-3 in the men's event.

Hot Rod

Sela is likely to face second seed Andy Roddick, a heavy favourite in the late match against unseeded Bjorn Phau on Saturday.

Jankovic will face either Svetlana Kuznetsova or home favourite Zheng Jie in the women's final of the combined ATP-WTA event.

Zheng Jie is jubilant after beating Ana Ivanovic

Zheng ousted number two seed Ana Ivanovic Zheng Jie 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 on Friday.

A semi-finalist at Wimbledon, Zheng overcame the French Open champion and former top-ranked Serb, whose serves and ground strokes were erratic.

If Jankovic wins the tournament, she will pull within 21 points of WTA top-dog Serena Williams in the rankings.

That will set up a showdown next week in Stuttgart, where Williams, Jankovic and six other top-10 players are entered.

History boy

Sela beat two highly-rated Spaniards to reach the last four - David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo - and is on the verge of making Israeli history.

Sela is ranked 92nd and can become the first Israeli to take an ATP singles title since Amos Mansdorf in 1993.

The last Israeli to reach a singles final was Harel Levy in 2000. He lost to Marat Safin in the final of a Toronto event.

"This match today was on TV in Israel,'' Sela said. "I'm getting a lot of phone calls, all the newspapers, TV.''

The Israeli started his good run with two weeks of practice before last weekend's Davis Cup victory over Peru.

Sela won his two singles matches and has kept his good form in China.

"I felt very good in practice and in the matches for Davis Cup,'' he said. "I felt very good coming here, and I think I have played very well.''

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