Five holds of serve in three sets enough for Jankovic to beat Ivanovic

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Jelena JankovicThe all-Serbian second-round clash of Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open happened to be an interesting affair of constant breaks of serve (the total of 19) and the world No.4 Jankovic won the match despite holding serve only five times in all the three sets. Final score: 4-6 6-4 6-1.

The first set consisted solely of the breaks of serve except for the seventh game Ana Ivanovicwhich Ivanovic won.  Jankovic had her chances when she saved a number of set points at 5-3 and then served to equal the score at 5-5, but she was broken to love and Ivanovic took the set 6-4.

The second set was a breakthrough for Jankovic – she won her first service game in the 14th game of the match! In general, the second set was pretty similar to the first one, but this time in Jankovic’s favor. Ivanovic held one serve, Jankovic held two and thus won the set 6-4.

Ivanovic crumbled in the deciding set and managed to win only one game and the seventh-seeded Jankovic advanced to the third round of the $4,500,000 tournament.

Jankovic is still trailing the 2008 Roland Garros champion Ivanovic in career meetings, 3-6. (photos: Stephane Martinache)

21 COMMENTS

  1. Result went the way i thought it would but, dear God, it was a rubbish performance by both of them!!

    Maybe they were too psyched up for the match? Whatever the reason, 19 breaks of serve is an absolute disgrace (even by WTA standards! lol).

    Last week after watching JJ i thought she had a serious chance of winning RG.

    If she plays there like she played today though i wouldn’t fancy her to win a raffle!!

  2. Tony, “even by WTA standards” haha 😛 The winner couldn’t be predicted, but this match was far from a nail-biter.

  3. it was hard for both of them, they are fed cup team players, both were tense, that’s why we saw so many breaks.

  4. 19 breaks of serve?! Ridiculous. Of course it’s the WTA so I suppose we should be used to it at this stage.

  5. did you ever think of both girls being stronger on their return games? after one break of serve of course your gonna be annoyed so you work harder to get back on hold. quit teasing the wta tour. why are you an wta blog if your teasing it? kinda doesnt make sense guys

  6. Jacob, I just think it is fascinating how in the WTA a break of serve doesn’t really mean anything. This match is the perfect example of that. It can be very frustrating for the audience, but it also adds to the excitement of the match. I guess for me it just frustrates me because sometimes a player serves for the match, gets broken and may end up losing the match. Or, a player will be behind in a match, break back, get back into the match, and still come off second best. I didn’t mean that comment to come off as teasing the WTA, I wasn’t. Just venting a bit of frustration 😉

  7. That was just such a heartbreaking loss. 🙁 I expected Ana to lose easily in straights. I rather see her lose like that, then she did today. She totally gift wrapped that match away to JJ. Ana blew so many opportunities. I feel so sick to my stomach.

    And JJ mocking Ana was classless. But of course, that’s not surprising coming from her. I hope Ana plays JJ again at RG and gets her revenge.

  8. Hmm, everyone is saying that the fist pump at the end was mocking Ana… was it, though? I actually thought it was JJ just pumped up after her win. Not really sure on that one….

    Whatever though, I wouldn’t be surprised if Heinz G has counselled Ana and advised her not to engage in the obnoxious fist pumping… apart from her usual “Ajde’s”, I haven’t seen her usual dance and carry on after she wins a point. Nice to see.

  9. Curtis, don’t be so sad, the match was of low quality and anyone could have won it, it was just that type of match. And don’t be mad at me, but I find JJ’s imitation of Ana hilarious haha. She didn’t have malicious intentions, I’m sure.

    K07, JJ first pumped up after her win, but then she did it again, Ana-style. Here’s the video: http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=90x9ch&s=5

  10. k07.. did u c jankovic’s whole performance after the match? how she was mocking ana’s fist pump? that was the rudest thing ive eva seen shes the biggest cow alive

    DISLIKE jankovic !!!

  11. Hmm, yeh I saw the whole match… I guess I just didn’t interperet it that way? I thought Jelena was just doing some kind of celebratory jig….

    I don’t know, it wasn’t that bad was it?? I kind of think everyone is blowing this way out of proportion and hating on JJ too much… yes, she can say some clangers, but really, what has she done that is so heinous? I’m with Marija, I don’t think it was malicious…

  12. It was not a high-quality match, but I was happy with the result.

    Even I didn’t like Jelena’s imitation.

  13. I thought the fist pump was funny 🙂 Sorry, but it does get kind of annoying. By the way, Jankovic won her 400th match! 🙂

  14. As I can notice I’m one of those rare people that don’t hate Ana’s fist pump, I actually think it’s cute, but I find JJ’s imitation funny nevertheless.

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