By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, June 25, 2014

 

Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski notched one of the biggest upsets of Wimbledon's first week on Day 3, taking down Victoria Azarenka in three tense sets.

Photo Source: Al Bello/Getty

It took three days at this year's Wimbledon, but the women's singles draw is finally starting to open up a bit.

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Serbia’s Bojana Jovanovski snapped a six-match losing streak with her opening-round victory over Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, and the 22-year-old has continued her winning ways on Day 3 by shocking former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, in a high-volume, high-energy affair.

Jovanovski, who had dropped her only previous meeting with Azarenka on her maiden Grand Slam appearance at Wimbledon in 2010, fought back from 0-40 down in the final game of the third set, clinching the victory when an Azarenka backhand sailed inches long.

The shock of Azarenka’s loss is tempered by the fact that she underwent a three-month hiatus due to foot problems, and had only returned to competitive tennis last week in Eastbourne.

Azarenka lost that match to Camila Giorgi of Italy, but after she came through her first-round tilt on Day 1 with Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, there was growing hope that the former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion might be able to hit the ground running with an upside surprise at Wimbledon.

But the hard-hitting, fiery Jovanovski, who played some scintillating tennis throughout the match, held her nerve together nicely during the late stretches of the final set to notch what is considered by most to be the biggest upset of the first three days of the Championships.

She ripped 15 winners in the third set against only six unforced errors, and broke Azarenka’s serve on all three opportunities.

Azarenka, the far more experienced player in big matches, had never won a match at Wimbledon after dropping the first set, but she looked like she was going to reverse that trend after rallying from 4-1 down to level at 4-all in the decider.

But after the pair traded breaks in the next two games, Jovanovski swept the final two games, breaking Azarenka in the ultimate game to book her place in Wimbledon’s third round for the first time.

The triumph is Jovanovski’s fourth career top 10 win. She’ll enjoy facing a lower-ranked player in her next match in 19-year-old qualifier Tereza Smitkova of the Czech Republic.