OUT OF THE OZ OPEN

Jelena Jankovic’s title hopes were dashed at the Australian Open as she was swept away 6-0, 7-5 against world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

The first set saw the top seed in fantastic form, and Jankovic had no reply to the onslaught. However as the game progressed, the Serb improved and she gave Wozniacki a few problems in the second set. Having been demolished in just 34 minutes in the first set, Jankovic upped her game and broke twice to put some pressure back onto the favourite, who has struggled to cope with nerves in the big games sometimes.

This wasn’t enough though, and the Dane did enough to avoid a tie break in the second set, progressing to the quarterfinals.

Wozniacki’s statistics for the match were impressive – putting 72% of her first serves into play, and keeping unforced to errors to 15. Despite this, Jankovic did as much to lose the match as Wozniacki did to win it, with a massive 50 unforced errors and 7 double faults. The Serb can’t expect to win matches at the top level playing such a loose game, and Jelena will be determined to improve her focus and concentration before she competes again.

The number 1 seed was pleased to get through in straight sets, and remembers a similar situation in the final set of last year’s match between these two in the same tournament. “She started to play very well. She had nothing to lose”, said Wozniacki, “When it was 5-4, 40-30, I was thinking, ‘Okay, I need to get this point and I need to close it out.’ It was like déjà vu from last year.”

In 2011, Wozniacki missed a match point and had to stay strong as she saw the same scenario replayed again. “When it got to 5-all I said, ‘Okay, doesn’t matter. We’re even here. Just keep going and fighting”. Her win sets up a meeting with Kim Clijsters and keeps her on track for her first grand slam title.

Jankovic will now trun her attention to the French Open, where she remains one of the favourites according to the Roland Garros odds online. Good luck Jelena!