Sorana Cirstea upsets Jelena Jankovic in the opening round battle – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
A stunning outcome was witnessed in the opening round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Tuesday, when the former world number one, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, crashed out at the hands of the world number 45, Sorana Cirstea of
Romania. The 15th seed Serbian went through three taxing sets before submitting at 3-6, 6-4, 6-7(4), to let the 22-year-old opponent advance to the second round of the star-studded event in Rome, Italy.
The nail-biting contest provided sheer entertainment to the local crowd in Rome. 27-year-old Jankovic stepped on the clay court as the hot favourite for winning the contest but all her years’ experiences couldn’t come handy in
meeting the belligerence of the Romanian opponent. Cirstea posted solid resistance right from the beginning to get the upper hand early in the contest. She went through a slump in the middle parts of the game but regrouped very well in the decisive set, concluding
her emphatic victory in the tie-breaker round to surprise everyone.
Jankovic’s error-ridden game play included eight costly double faults, whilst the Romanian contender got the better of her by nailing six out of eight break points. Cirstea delivered 52 per cent of her first serve on target and
secured 38 out of 55 points on it en route to victory. Her solid baseline defence, coupled with regular forays to the net, forced Jankovic on her back foot and she eventually submitted in the last moments of the contest to end her voyage in Rome.
Both competitors split the opening two sets between them and fought desperately in the decider to remain alive in the competition. Cirstea was the luckier of the two, as she sailed through the third set tie-breaker round to come
out as the surprise winner.
It was Cirstea’s 15th victory of the 2012 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) season and the second one over Jankovic in singles encounters. She routed the Serbian back in 2009 Roland Garros French Open, 3-6, 6-0, 9-7 and
replicated the similar sort of performance on Tuesday to lead 2-0 in the head-to-head series against Jankovic. The Romanian has only got one WTA title under her belt and her thumping beginning to the Rome Masters campaign hints that she is eyeing to have a
solid impact over the tournament in the later stages.
Cirstea will next face the unseeded Swede contender, Sofia Arvidsson, in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia later this week. Arvidsson registered a comprehensive straight sets victory, 6-3, 6-2, over the Spaniard
competitor, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, in the opening round brawl on Tuesday.
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