Jelena Jankovic struggles past Jie Zheng to earn a title shot in the final – AEGON Classic 2012
Former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, displayed glimpses of her vintage form to overcome the resistance of the 32nd ranked Chinese tennis ace, Jie Zheng, in the semi-final clash of the AEGON Classic on Sunday. The
fifth seeded Serbian battled for two hours and 38 minutes to wrap up the three-setter at 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-1, in her favour, earning a title shot in the final of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event in Birmingham, England.
The 27-year-old sustained her four-match winning streak against Zheng in singles encounters and extended her lead to 6-1 over the Chinese after her Sunday’s victory. It was a hard-fought battle for Jankovic, who had to recover
from being a set-down to reel off the last two sets en route to victory.
Zheng has been in prime form throughout the tournament and started off the crunch game in grand fashion. She posed some serious resistance to the belligerent game play of Jankovic and went on neck-to-neck, dragging the opening
set into a tie-breaker round. The fifth seeded Serb crumbled in the decider and gifted away the opening set to her Chinese rival to fell 0-1 in the contest.
Intense competition continued in the following set, with both players holding their serves in the opening 11 games to take the scores to 6-5 in favour of the Serbian. It appeared as if another tie-breaker round would come into
play but an all-important break point conversion from Jankovic, closed out the second set in her favour at 7-5.
Once getting into her winning groove, the fifth seeded Serbian veteran raced away to 4-0 lead, with two successive break points, in the final set of the match. Zheng halted her momentum in the fifth game, breaking her serve to
curtail her trail to 1-4 but an immediate breakthrough from Jankovic in the very next game pushed the Chinese contender on her back foot once again. The Serbian served out of the match at 5-1, concluding her emphatic victory with a breadstick and booking a
berth in the final of the AEGON Classic.
"I had to play five sets today, but the most important thing is I was able to win both matches and get to the finals," Jankovic said. "Against Zheng I was able to start playing more aggressively as the match went on. Especially
in that third set, my fifth set of the day, I was striking the ball well, serving and returning well. I really felt like I had saved my best tennis of the day for last. If we played the final too I could have had seven or eight sets in one day. But I could
probably have done it. I would still be standing."
Jankovic will play the title match against Melanie Oudin of the United States on Monday.
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