Jovana Jaksic, Sofiya Kovalets through to the second round of Girls’ Singles – French Open 2011
Jovana Jaksic came back from a set deficit to defeat Viktoria Malova of Slovakia 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 and booked her place in the second round of 2011 (Girls’ Singles) French Open on Sunday. The Serbian tennis-pro showed amazing temperament
and character to floor her opponent in a match that lasted for more than two hours and 34 minutes.
Ranked 1114th in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, Jaksic made an uncertain start to the contest. The 17-year-old miss timed her backhand shots on a number of occasions as she gave away free points to the challenger.
The Slovakian was ready to take the available opportunities and made Jaksic pay for her unforced errors. In the first set Malova broke the serve four times as compared to three serve breaks made by Jaksic as she pocketed the set 7-5
Jaksic made a strong come back in the following set and managed to time the ball a lot better. Displaying top quality tennis throughout the set, she broke the serve three times as she evened the set score 1-1. Despite having the
momentum and psychological advantage on her side, the Slovakian failed to convert some easy scoring chances and fell under pressure.
The Serbian continued to play her natural game confidently in the final set as well and broke the serve at regular intervals to ensure her strong position in the match. She fired a lovely serve ace to set up three match points
for her and then converted the first one with a ferocious forehand winner down the line to close out the match.
With her on-target and well directed serve, Jaksci achieved an impressive first serve conversion. Dominating her opponent in the serve return department as well, she sent her powerful returns. However, she committed a large number
of unforced errors during the match, an aspect of her game, which she must work hard on to yield similar results against other top players participating at the competition.
Mean while Ukrainian Sofiya Kovalets stunned number ten seed Miho Jowase of Japan 6-2, 6-3 to reach the second round at 2011 Roland Garros.
The Ukrainian tennis player looked in a hurry to seal the opening set. She broke twice in the set and made her opponent’s game play look very ineffective. Kowase, on the other hand, looked a bit out of sorts and struggled with
her serve.
Kovalets continued to test her opponent in the second set as well and made four serve breaks to ensure her victory in straight sets. The Japanese managed to win only seven out of 15 points on her serve and also made 4 double faults
in the set.
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