Second seed Jelena Jankovic earned her place in the third round of the US Open but not before being pushed all the way by Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson.
Jankovic comfortably won the first set. In the second, despite serving for the set she was forced into a tie-breaker in which 63rd-ranked Arvidsson overcame Jankovic’s 3-0 lead and took the match to the third set. In the decider, Arvidsson trailed 3-0 but broke back to level at 4-4, before the exhausted world No.2 made a final push to win 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-4.
Jankovic will next face Wimbledon semifinalist Jie Zheng who defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-4.
BTW: Despite playing a marathon match against Arvidsson, Jankovic had time to worry about other things, guess what – fashion! “I was concerned I was going to get my dress dirty. That was my biggest concern,” said JJ.