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Jelena Jankovic Rallies Past Sara Errani Into IW Fourth Round
By Richard Pagliaro
Photo: Tony Chang/Chang Photography
(March 15, 2010) INDIAN WELLS — The ball soared high into the night sky sailing over Jelena Jankovic's head and bounding inside the baseline.
Briefly, that familiar "Oh, no not again!" expression flashed across Jankovic's face, before she spun around and made a bee line for the baseline.
Catching up to the ball, Jankovic tossed up an over-the-shoulder lob. Then the wide-eyed Serbian, along with the remaining members of the crowd who had not scattered out of the stadium to follow the Andy Roddick and James Blake doubles match, stood and watched as Sara Errani waited near the net to swat what appeared to be an easy overhead.
On this day, nothing would come easy and Errani clanged a smash wide of the sideline.
That match point moment summed up the third-round encounter: Jankovic spent a lot of time playing catch up, but put enough balls back into play to allow Errani to misfire on pivotal points.
After two hours and 48 minutes of determined defense and some timely shot making, Jankovic slipped into the fourth round for the third time in four years with a 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 victory.
It was an escape act for Jankovic, who often finds ways to deliver drama to a match even when she's ahead. She dug out of 2-4 deficits in the second and third sets, was two points from defeat in the second-set tie break and one point from falling into a 2-5 deficit before turning things around.
"I would hit a couple of winners and would win a couple of games, but then I would just lose a lot of games with playing really...I have no idea what I would be doing out there on the court," Jankovic said. "But, you know, I think, you know, I need these kind of matches, you know, just to be in these kind of situations. It's been a while since I played, you know, a lot of matches, and I think winning these kind of matches gives me a lot of confidence. You know, the more I play, I think the better I will get. So I'm happy that I was able to get through this match and get another chance tomorrow."
The former World No. 1 won back-to-back tournament matches for the first time since the Australian Open and will try to win three matches in a row for the first time since she reached the Tokyo final last September when she takes on Shahar Peer on Tuesday. Peer took down ninth-seeded Flavia Pennetta, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1.
Seeds continue to scatter in the desert as third-seeded Victoria Azarenka and Pennetta both failed to reach the fourth round joining top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, seventh-seeded Li Na and 10th-seeded Maria Sharapova on the outs. Jankovic came close to joining the exodus of top 10 seeds, but refused to go quietly.
Falterting concentration and consistency made the match an adventure.
"I just couldn't keep my concentration throughout the whole time," Jankovic said. "So I had a lot of ups and downs...It was really a battle out there, and I just tried to stay positive as much as I could. I just tried to fight for every point and kept going and kept going, you know, and I was able to win at the end. I'm really happy to get through this match."
Sometimes Jankovic is too content to play the waiting game and doesn't fully employ all the elements in her game until she's behind in a match. In that sense she is similar to compatriot Novak Djokovic, who was cruising up a set and a break hours earlier on stadium court before bungling the lead and saving three match points to fight off Philipp Kohlschreiber.
In this case, Jankovic was down a set and a break before launching her comeback. She served for the second set at 5-4, but could not close then blew a 6-2 lead in the tie breaker.
Bidding for her first win over a top 10 player in 12 chances, Errani pulled the string to end a 16-shot rally with a superb drop shot winner to level the tie break at 6-all.
The 49th-ranked Italian was two points from her first trip to the fourth round, but Jankovic entrenched herself behind the baseline and refused to miss in the ensuing rallies. A 22-shot rally ended when Errani sent a forehand long and Jankovic had another set point.
The former World No. 1 owns one of the best backhand down-the-line drives in women's tennis, but she flipped the script on set point, capping a 20-shot rally with a forehand dagger of a drive down the line to level the match at one set apiece.
Jankovic was back on even terms but six games later found herself teetering five points from defeat before mounting another comeback. It was a ragged match, but the type of win that can strengthen the competitive spirit and reinforce Jankovic's stubborn refusal to submit.
"I never thought I would lose the match. I knew I can still win it, I'm was still there, and I just fought very well. That's what I did, and that's what got me through the match," Jankovic said.
"Sometimes you don't play well. There are days when you don't when you don't feel your balls, your opponent plays really, really well, and those are the times you have to stay really strong mentally and get through these kind of matches. It was really hard for me, but I managed to do it."
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