Jelena Jankovic surrenders to Jamie Hampton at BNP Paribas Open 2012: Tennis Special
Serbian number one, Jelena Jankovic, crashed out to the local wild card entrant, Jamie Hampton, in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open 2012 on Friday. She suffered a 4-6, 3-6 shock at the hands of the 22-year-old in the second round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier Mandatory event taking place in Indian Wells, United States.
The 12th seed displayed drastic skills throughout the match and after losing her serve five times, she exited from the event with disappointment. Jankovic clobbered a higher first serve share of 50 per cent as compared to the American’s 46 per cent but availed only 12 out of 26 points on it.
“It was just a bad day of tennis for me," the former world number one was quoted in a post match conference. "I just didn't feel the ball. My legs felt really heavy on the court and I was moving very badly out there. Hampton played solid - she was playing very well, but I was a shadow of myself. I guess it's one of those days you just come on the court and the legs don't go, the reactions are not there. I tried my best, but it just didn't work today. But credit to Hampton. She did what she had to do. She took advantage."
Ranked 99th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Hampton stormed into the Indian Wells Tennis Garden and leaped at 3-0 with a break of serve. She then exchanged two serve breaks in the remaining set and consequently pulled out the opener with a 6-4 win.
The 27-year-old on the other hand carried her losing ways in the following set and after suffering the first blow in the fourth game. Jankovic lost her serve again in the sixth game and went 1-5 down. Apart from snatching a break back in the seventh game, she was underplayed by Hampton with a 3-6 defeat.
The Serbian veteran was playing her first match at this hard court event. She was coming off from a semi-final showing at the Kuala Lumpur WTA International event (lost fifth seed Petra Martic). Jankovic had shown tremendous skills this season as she cruised to the final eight at Brisbane, the first WTA event of the season. She then made a fourth round showing at the Australian Open (fell to the top seeded Caroline Wozniacki) before exiting from the opening round at the Qatar Ladies Open (lost to Israeli number one Shahar Peer).
The Serb flashed her old self again in the proceeding two tournaments. She breezed past her rivals to reach the final four at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and at the BMW Malaysian Open.
Jankovic is now eying to revive her form at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. She needs to play her original game and should stay calm in order to overpower her opponent.
The wild card on the other hand advanced into the third round where the Australian rising star, Jarmila Gajdosova, awaits her. The Aussie stunned the 22nd seed, Yanina Wickmayer in three sets to set-up this clash.
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