Jelena Jankovic outshines Zheng Jie in the 2nd round – Western & Southern Open 2011
World number 14 Jelena Jankovic routed world number 65 Zheng Jie in the second round of the Western and Southern Open 2011 on Wednesday as the two battled it out on the hard courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason,
Ohio. The former world number one Jankovic bounced back from a set down to secure her victory with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 against the Chinese (Jie) in 2 hour and 38 minutes.
Both the players had struck two double faults each in the first set. However, Jankovic smashed two aces during the set and gained an upper hand, while her rival was unable to smash any.
Jankovic was struggling to find her pace and was unable to completely utilize her strong forearm which limited her to only 55% of her total service points. The Chinese had taken advantage of her opponent’s slow start and struck
strong powerful strokes that won her an above average 59% of her total service points.
The 28-year old (Jie) was un able to utilizing her back hand completely but still managed to win 45% of her total returns against the Serb (Jankovic), who was barely able to make a return on them and won an average 41% in her total
return points.
Jie gained another added advantage by breaking her opponent twice; while, Jankovic was only able to break Jie’s serve once. The 26-year-old (Jankovic) lost the set with only 4 fewer points than her opponents.
The second set saw a complete reversal of fate, with Jie nose diving in her performance. However, Jankovic had found a new confidence and was not going to let Jie spoil their head-to-head.
Jankovic powered through into the second set, however, Jie was not far behind but she eventually lost the set as she was unable to produce the numbers.
Although, the second set saw Jankovic’s accuracy falter three times, she was able to break her opponent twice.
The Serb was a powerhouse of unstoppable shots and had an extremely strong serve that won her a good 16 out of 26 points, making it a commendable 62% of her total service points, whereas, Jie had poor return and was barely able
to reply to her opponent’s shots.
The winner of 12 WTA titles (Jankovic) bagged the set with a 55% win of her total set points.
After an amazing performance by Jankovic, the players had bagged a set each and the tone for the third set was decided and Jankovic saw an easy victory of 6-1.
The 26 year-old was volleying well placed drop shots and kept Jie on her toes which won her an above average win of 55% in her total return points and with her strong baseliners she completely owned her opponent by winning 67%
of her total service points.
Jie, who barely attained 7 out of 21 points in her total return, lost the set and the match against Jankovic, who was able to break Jie three times, capitalizing on 43% of total break points won. She accomplished the set by achieving
59% of her total set points.
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