By Erik Gudris | Thursday, February 20, 2014
Whenever Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic play against each other, drama often seems to follow. Most of the time it's because of their tennis. In the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday night, the drama happened in between points.
In only her second match back since the Australian Open, Williams looked sharp right from the first point. Stepping into the mid-court to smack away her opponent's shots, Williams changed it up by feathering in a delicate drop shot to go up a quick break. Soon it was 3-0 for the top seed and she looked ready to make it a short evening.
Jankovic, known for her expressiveness, seemed to blame her early woes on her coach and brother whom she berated after almost every point as they sat on the sidelines. Misfortune struck again when a ball kid, not looking where he was going, ran right into Jankovic. That distracted everybody, including Williams, who promptly dropped serve a few points later.
But with a fine backhand passing shot in the next game, Williams reclaimed the break again for 4-2. With 15 winners total, Williams soon wrapped up the set 6-2.
Though Jankovic continued to serve well enough and occasionally came up the winner in the rallies, she never really found a way to pressure Williams. Though both dropped their level, they still found themselves on serve at 3-2 in the second set. That all changed when Jankovic played a horrible next game to find herself down 0-40 on her serve. Then she tossed in her first double fault of the evening to hand Williams the break for 4-2 and likely the match.
Williams didn't waste any time as she then continued what would be an 11-point run and soon held three match points at 0-40. Jankovic, to her credit, didn't wilt. She fought back to deuce and that's when the drama started.
As Jankovic waited at the line to serve, Williams backed off before returning to cough. Annoyed, Jankovic was heard to say, "Take all the time it's yours."
Williams stared at Jankovic and said, "Do you want to start this again?" and then wagged her finger at Jankovic, a reference to a similar incident in the Charleston finals last year when Jankovic called out Williams for not playing at her pace during Jankovic's service game.
After Jankovic complained to the umpire about Williams, she got back to the service line and tried to get herself out of the game. The next point featured one of the best rallies of the match with Williams ending it with a big backhand winner. Finally, on her fourth match point, Williams smacked a volley winner to end the lopsided yet testy encounter 6-2, 6-2.
Both women shared a long conversation up at the net that no one could hear but appeared to sort it all out. Williams then applauded Jankovic as she walked off court. Jankovic in press later she had already forgotten about the whole thing while Williams said she apologized to Jankovic for playing too slow.
Before the final game, former player and now TV commentator Anne Keothavong mused that Jankovic always liked a "good chinwag." While the tennis is what really matters, the final game of this latest installment between Jankovic and Williams only proved that it continues to be one of the more entertaining and often always dramatic rivalries going in the women’s game.
Williams now awaits the winner of the Alize Cornet versus Carla Suarez Navarro match to find out who will be her semifinal opponent.
In earlier action, Venus Williams advanced to her second semifinal of the season with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Flavia Pennetta. Next for the elder Williams is Caroline Wozniacki who defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2.
(Photo Credit: AP)