Maria Sanchez stuns Jelena Jankovic; labours into the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
A former top twenty player, Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez bounced back to upset a former world number one, Jelena Jankovic in a three set nail biter match at Wimbledon Championships 2011, third of the fourth Grand Slam event
held in London, England. She registered a 5-7, 7-4, 6-3 victory over the 26-year-old Serb to advance into the second round on Tuesday.
28-year-old Spaniard displayed extra-ordinary skills to stun the fifteenth seeded Jankovic in this two hours and twenty-three minutes match at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Sanchez was meeting the Serb for the third
time and after overpowering her last year at Rome, she carried her winning ways in this major event. As a result, the Spaniard took a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head against Jankovic.
Ranked 15th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, the Serb put a great show of fabulous forehands from her box of tricks in the opening set as she held on to her entire serves comfortably. She then converted a breakpoint
chance to her advantage in the end to seal the opener by winning seven games to five in fifty-two minutes. Although Jankovic committed fifteen unforced errors, she clobbered a higher first serve share and registered an impressive 71 percent win on it.
Sanchez, ranked 76th in the WTA rankings, re-ignited her spark in the second set as she smoothly held her opening serve in the second game to level the scores at 1-1. The Spaniard produced a lower first serve share of
58 percent as compared to Jankovic’s 81 percent, committed nine unforced errors and lost her serve once. However, she covered it up by converting two out of five breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to clinch the equaliser with a 6-4 win in another fifty-two
minutes.
The Yecla native, Sanchez, raised the bar of her game in the final set as she earned a perfect win on her slightly higher first serve share of 71 percent. She spiced the set further by slamming four aces and hammering sixteen winners.
The Spaniard kept her entire serves by maintaining consistency in her game and converted two out of eight breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to bag the decider with a 6-3 win.
Up next for the Spaniard is the Romanian Monica Niculescu. The 23-year-old Romanian slaughtered a former top twenty, Austrian Sybille Bammer with double breadsticks to reach this spot. Bammer wasn’t able to hold her single serve
whereas the Romanian converted seven out of nine breakpoint chances to her advantage to seal the deal with an assuring 6-1, 6-1 score line.
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