Friday 20 January 2012

Jelena on Centre Court - my bonus

Because the two scheduled matches finished early - surprise surprise - a match set for Margaret Court Arena was redirected to Rod Laver Arena. At my request it featured my favourite tennis player Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, and she invited a guest, American Christina McHale, for a best of three set affair with the winner taking one of the spots in the round of sixteen.
Another Jankovic backhand

McHale is a promising young player who impressed with her victory over seeded player Safarova in round one followed by a win over another up and comer from New Zealand. Jankovic is a proven performer at the top level, and already had demonstrated some of her best form, if only in patches. The two began carefully, and the first few games featured several long rallies from the back of the court with Jelena leading 2-1 on serve.

3 games and Jankovic had had enough of this, deciding to attack with her most powerful weapons and the ground strokes down the line and cross court hurt Christina to breaking point - service breaking in fact and the lead extended to 3-1. The next two games continued the trend with Jelena confirming the gap in class and experience, leading 5-1 and serving for the first set.

Under ordinary circumstances Christina could have been blown off the court at this rate - fortunately there was little breeze. The American girl played her best tennis to thwart Jelena from taking the set at this moment and 2-5 became the scoreline.

That was all she wrote for young Christina but her career is assured. Today the occasion proved out of her domain. Jankovic, displaying her best Aus Open form since making the semis in 2008, broke to win set one 6-2, then went on an absolute tear on the scoreboard, winning all there was on offer until the finish line. 6-2 6-0 and maybe the Wozniacki fourth round clash would not be as straightforward for the world number one as previously thought.

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