Jelena Jankovic slays Beatriz Garcia Vidagany in the opening round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
World number eight Jelena Jankovic of Serbia outclassed the lucky loser from Spain, Beatriz Garcia Vidagany in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, played at the Porsche Tennis Arena at Stuttgart, Germany on Tuesday.
The eighth seed Serb wound up her straight sets 6-1, 6-2 victory, in 78 minutes to dispense out the Spaniard from the $721,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
26-year-old Serb veteran faced no real challenge from her opponent throughout the contest and registered her 21st victory of the running WTA season with the utmost ease at Stuttgart. Jankovic outplayed Vidagany in every
segment of the game and orchestrated most of the rallies in the contest. She crafted 18 opportunities to break her opponent’s serve but converted just six of them to her advantage. A total of 112 points were played in the game with Vidagany winning 43 and
the rest of 69 nabbed by Jankovic.
Vidagany served brilliantly in the opener, reaching 76 per cent accuracy but the Serb was even better with her 81 per cent amazing first serve. Jankovic had an aggressive start to the game, breaking the Spaniard in the third game
to lead 4-1. Vidagany couldn’t survive under the immense pressure of competing against one of the top ranked players and started to play lots of errant strokes, landing long and wide of the court. The Spaniard missed some of the easiest points to allow her
opponent come on the top.
The Serb clinched 15 of 17 first serve points in the opening set and backed it up with his brilliant return game to maintain her dominance in the competition. Jankovic kept her winning momentum going and stung the second decisive
serve break in the sixth game to reach set point at 5-1. She served out of the opener comprehensively at 6-1 to get one up in the game.
The following set brought no luck for the Spaniard, who kept crumbling under the pressure. She registered her first serve break of the match in the fourth game but Jankovic frittered away her advantage with two consecutive break
points. The eighth seed made frequent forays to the net, converted juicy volleys into elegant cross-court winners to consolidate her lead. Jankovic finally concluded victory at 6-2 to book a berth in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Up next for Jankovic in the second round is Andrea Petkovic of Germany, who outsmarted the Austrian qualifier, Tamira Paszek in the opening round at Stuttgart.
Tags: