Caroline Wozniacki battles past Jelena Jankovic at Internazionali BNL d’Italia
World number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark rallied past former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in a three set thriller on Friday. The Danish number one registered a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory over the 26-year-old Serb
to advance into the semis of the 2011 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, a clay court tournament held in Rome, Italy.
Top seeded Dane took two hours and twenty four minutes to down Jankovic for the third time this year. She was trailing 0-4 before this season against the Serb but after this success at Foro Italico, Wozniacki lowered the trail
in their head-to-head series by 3-4.
20-year-old Stormed into the first set and held her opening serve superbly. She outclassed the serve by keeping her entire serves plausibly and broke the Serb’s serve twice to win the set with a convincing 6-3 score line. She registered
an amazing 78 percent win on her higher first serve share and converted two out of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage.
World number nine Jankovic, despite making it to at least the quarterfinals of every tournament this season fails to show a title for it. The Serb bounced back in the second set. She produced a lower first serve share of 54 percent
as compared to Wozniacki’s 82 percent but registered a perfect win on it. The Serb lost one game in the match and reeled off six games to earn the breadstick.
Wozniacki re-structured again in the decider and outshined the Serb in every department of tennis. She clobbered less double faults, produced a higher first serve share of 77 percent as compared to Jankovic’s 65 percent and earned
a convincing 50 percent win on it. The Dane lost her serve three times and converted five out of eight breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the set by winning six games to three.
"I knew it wasn't going to be an easy one, but I'm getting more comfortable on clay," Wozniacki said. "You always prefer to win quickly and get off the court, but it doesn't matter if it's four hours or one hour - I'm just happy
to get through."
The Danish star is in top form this season as she won titles at Dubai, Indian Wells and Charleston and made a final berth at Doha and Stuttgart before entering this WTA Premier 5 event.
Up next for the Dane is another former world number one, Russian Maria Sharapova.
"She's No.1 in the world and a great clay court player," Sharapova said. "It's going to be a very physical match. She's someone that never misses a ball. It will be really important to be patient and aggressive when I have to be."
The Russian lost the first set but led 3-0 in the second when third seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka was forced to retire due to right elbow contusion.
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