The outcome of the match was surprising. It wasn’t expected as Stosur was higher in world rankings than Jankovic. But, Jankovic put up a great show on the clay courts of Stuttgart and knocked the Australian player out of the competition.

In the post match interview, Jankovic said, “Sam is a very good player on the clay courts and the last time I had played against her on clay courts, she had defeated me. So, that was in the back of my mind. I knew it would be tough for me, but, thankfully, I was in good touch today and the match went in my favour.”

“It always boosts your confidence when you win against a player who is in top 10 in the world rankings. This is certainly the kind of start that I needed. Hopefully, things will go well for me in the further matches as well.”

On the other hand, Stosur was looking totally frustrated. The Australian super star said, “It was really a tough day for me. I didn’t serve well at all and probably didn’t deserve to win.”

“I hadn’t expected myself to be out from the first round, but, it happens sometimes. I will keep working hard and will bounce back in the upcoming tournaments.”

Jankovic broke Stosur’s serve a couple of times in the match, once in each set.

In the first set, the Serbian player got the breakthrough in the 9^th game and then, wrapped up the set by winning her next service game.

In the second set, Stosur dropped her serve in the 3^rd game and never managed to come back after that. Jankovic held her remaining serve and made her way into the second round quite comfortably.

In the second round, Jankovic will face the local girl Sabine Lisicki.

Jankovic Video Rating: four / five[/random]

Jankovic Online video Rating: five / 5[/random]

In this season, Jankovic’s performance hasn’t been great so far. She has participated in four tournaments in this season and in three of them, her performance was not up to the mark.

The first tournament in which Jankovic took part this year was Apia International Sydney Tennis Tournament. She got knocked out from the second round of that tournament.

Australian Open was the next tournament for Jankovic. Her performance was below par in that tournament as well. She only managed to reach the third round where she was defeated by her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic.

After performing poorly in her first couple of tournaments in the season, Jankovic came back in her next tournament i.e. WTA Bogota Open tennis championship. She went on to win that competition by securing win over Paula Ormaechea of Argentina. That was the 13^th title won by Jankovic in her career.

Jankovic couldn’t maintain her form in the BNP Paribas Open and got defeated in the second round there.

Duval who will be Jankovic’s opponent on Friday is currently at no. 376 in the official rakings of WTA. She is only 17 years of age and she has not faced too many quality players in her career so far. So, the match against Jankovic will be a huge challenge for her.

When asked if she is excited about Friday’s clash against Jankovic, Duval said, “Yes, off course. I have nothing to lose. I will just go out on the court and enjoy my game.”

“Jelena has been around for more than 10 years now. She has got a whole lot of experience and to face her will be a very hard task for a youngster like me. I am just hoping for the best.”

The way Kuznetsova had played in the opening set, very few people would have expected her to dominate in the next two sets. But, the Russian player did that. She looked a completely different player after losing the first set.

After winning the match, Kuznetsova said, “I was an underdog in this match. So, there was not much pressure on me. In the opening set, things went terribly wrong for me, but, I remained calm and just tried to play positively in the next two sets.”

This was Kuznetsova’s 12^th match against Jankovic. She had lost 6 out of the last 11 matches, and had come into the match as the underdog, with Unibet offering online betting odds of as large as 4/1 on her winning as various stages of the match.

In the first set, it was all about the Serbian veteran Jelena Jankovic. She wrapped up the set in no time by winning the first 6 games on the trot.

In the second set, Jankovic suddenly lost her concentration and she had a disastrous start. She dropped her serve in the 2^nd game and got down by 0-2. In the next five games, neither of the two players got a breakthrough and at the end of the 7^th game, Kuznetsova had a lead of 5-2.

A breakthrough for Kuznetsova in the 8^th game made sure that the match would go into the third set.

In the final set, both the players were playing quite well till the end of the 11^th game. There were no breakthroughs till then and the score was 6-5 in Kuznetsova’s favour.

Kuznetsova broke Jankovic’s serve in the 12^th game and sealed the decider by 7-5 to cruise into the third round.

In the next round, Kuznetsova’s opponent will be Marion Bartoli of France.

Jankovic Video clip Ranking: / 5[/random]

There is not much difference in the world rankings of these two players and a tight contest was anticipated by the crowd. But, that didn’t happen. It was Ivanovic who dominated for most parts of the match and pulled off an easy victory.

Ivanovic started pretty well. With a serve break in the third game of the first set, she got ahead by 2-1. The next three games went with the serve and at the end of the sixth game; Ivanovic was leading by 4-2.

Jankovic’s service was broken again in the seventh game. Ivanovic was serving for the set in the 8^th game, but, she didn’t manage to serve it out. She dropped her serve and the lead was reduced to 3-5.

Jankovic equalized the scores with another serve break in the 10^th game. The set seemed to be going towards the tie breaker, but, that wasn’t the case to be. Ivanovic got yet another breakthrough in the 11^th game and then, by holding her serve in the next game, she won the first set.

In the second set, Ivanovic held her entire serve and broke Jankovic’s service in the third and the ninth game to win the set by 6-3.

In the next match, Ivanovic will take on Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Radwanska has been in great form recently and she has won her last 12 games on the trot. So, it’s not going to be easy for Ivanovic to go past Radwanska.

Ivanovic and Radwanska have played against each other 7 times before.  Out of those 7 matches, Ivanovic won 3 and lost 4.

Jankovic Video Rating: 4 / 5[/random]

Jankovic Video Rating: 4 / 5[/random]

After the draw ceremony, she talked to the reporters and answered their questions. She told the reporters, “Dubai is a glorious place and I love coming here. This is the best place to prepare for the Australian Open. There are hard courts available here and the facilities are also amazing.”

When asked about her performance in the last season, Jankovic said, “It was a disappointing season for me. In fact, it was one of my worst seasons. But, the season has finished now and I don’t want to think too much about what went wrong. I just want to concentrate on the upcoming season.”

“I have been working very hard on my fitness. In the last season, I struggled with my fitness at times. I don’t want it to happen in the upcoming season as well. For performing well, you need to be super fit. So, my focus is on fitness at the moment.”

When asked why she has not been able to win even a single Grand Slam title in her career so far, Jankovic said, “Look there is no particular reason for it. May be I have not been able to soak the pressure in the Grand Slam tournaments, but, I am only 27 and there are still a few years of tennis ahead of me. I can still win a few Grand Slams. Hopefully, I would be able to cross this hurdle in the 2013 season.”