Jelena Jankovic praises the teenager finalist of the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge – Tennis News
World number 106, Yulia Putintseva, reached the final of the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge, contested in Dubai in the last week of November. She was not a seeded player but still managed to write-off three superior ranked seeds in
the draw before falling out to the Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan who was seeded eighth in the draw. The 17-year-old Kazakh is definitely a classic player and one for the future.
Former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, who attended the draw ceremony of the tournament during her maiden holiday trip to Dubai, commented on the performance of the young teenager. She said, “She’s a young player, has great
potential, she’s going to be a great player in the future.” Jankovic will begin the new season at the maiden edition of the new Women Tennis Association event known as the Shenzhen Gemdale Open 2013, hosted in China.
Putintseva is a bright prospective for the women tennis especially in the coming years when the level of competition will be immense. She entertained the local crowd with the quality of play and a never-say-die attitude. She rocked
the show with her explosive tantrums on the courts that helped her to bounce back a set down in the couple of stages of the tournament. In the final, she was also a set down but managed to square the scores before falling out with tight scores of 6-1, 3-6,
6-4.
In an interview after the match, the 17-year-old Kazakh was a bit worn out but thanked the spectators who cheered her throughout the grand finale. She has been allotted a spot in the main round of the year’s first Grand Slam Championship
that begins in the midst of January, next year. Commenting about that, the Kazakh said, “I’m looking forward to the Australian Open. I’m in the main draw. Hopefully I won’t play with Serena Williams in the first round, but if it happens, I will try to win
anyway.”
The second seed Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia, the sixth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and the fifth seed Czech blonde Kristyna Pliskova were amongst the list of four victims that were registered in the tournament at Dubai.
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