Jelena Jankovic overcomes Casey Dellacqua in the semi-finals – Texas Tennis Open 2012
World number 34, Jelena Jankovic disposed the Aussie underdog, Casey Dellacqua, in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, in the semi-final match of Texas Tennis Open on Thursday. Jankovic nearly took one hour and 42 minutes to overpower
her opponent and earned a spot in the title match.
Jankovic said talking to the reporters, “I think Casey played really well. There were a lot of tough games and points. It's never easy to play a left-handed player. It has been a long time since we played each other. I hung
in there and stayed positive and made it in two sets. I'm glad I was able to come here to Dallas and play really good matches and feel that pressure and get that competition that will help prepare me for the Open. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's final.
I'm going to try to play the best that I can and have fun.”
The former world number one was the first contender to serve the match and instantly levelled the scores to 1-1 by the Australian. In the initial part of the set, both players tried to break each other’s serve and there were
a series of breakpoints witnessed.
The Aussie proved to be a tough competitor, as she tried to consolidate her scores to upset her rival. Their scores levelled again at the second last game of the set to 5-5. However, after a fierce battle the first set ended
in an emphatic fashion for Jankovic, as she broke her opponent to reach 7-5.
The 27-year-old Aussie equalized the Serbian’s score three times in the successive set, capturing just three of the five break points. On the other hand, the second seeded Serb was unable to bag any. Towards the end, Jankovic
stepped forward to nail a breakthrough, winning the set with a 6-4 score.
Currently ranked 106th on the WTA Premier Rankings, Dellacqua was unable to bombard any ace whereas she double faulted four times. She managed to pull off 62 percent first serve percentage converting
28 of 54 first serve points. In comparison the 27-year-old Serbian dominated the game with three aces and double faulted four times. She had a moderately higher first serve rate of 69, bagging 30 of 43 first deliveries.
It was the third face-off between these two contenders and Jankovic sustained her clean sheet over the Aussie opponent to lead 3-0 in the head-to-head series. Their last battle took place back in 2008 when the Serbian outsmarted
Dellacqua in straight sets, 7-6(3), 6-1, in the pre-quarter-final rounds of the Australian open.
Jankovic will be contesting against the third seeded Italian native, Roberta Vinci, in the finals of the tournament.
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