Venus Williams shocks Jelena Jankovic to reach pre-quarters – Family Circle Cup 2012
Former world number one, Venus Williams, jolted down the seventh seed, Jelena Jankovic, with a bagel at the Family Circle Cup 2012 on Wednesday. She nudged up a 7-5, 6-0 victory over the Serbian number two to cruise into the third round at this green clay
court event taking place in Charleston, South Carolina.
The wild card entrant recreated her old magic at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) Premier event and slaughtered Jankovic in their 12th meeting. Odds were in favour of the Serb who won her previous four clay court meetings including her last
6-0, 6-1 success against Williams in Rome. However, the American sought her rhythm in it and not only levelled the head-to-head record by 6-6 against Jankovic but also secured a place in the round of 16.
"I hadn't played her in a long time, so in the first set I was just finding my rhythm and getting used to any new patterns she might have," Williams said. "In the second set everything started landing for me. I was moving forward and playing my aggressive
game. Honestly, I don't know how it went that nicely for me. Everything just landed, and she hit a few errors, and that helped me a lot."
Williams made a shaky start at the Family Circle Tennis Center and suffered the first blow in the opening game. Regardless of recovering in the very next game, she lost her serve again in the third game and subsequently went 1-3 down. The American veteran
grasped her break back in the sixth game but gifted away her third serve to trail at 4-5. However, Williams remained focused and stroke out the last three games to pull out the opener with a 7-5 win.
The 31-year-old went berserk in the following set as she blasted powerful forehands from her arsenal of skills and went on a six-game killing spree. She cashed in all three break chances to seal the deal with a bagel.
"My level of play wasn't at a high level today," the Serbian was quoted after the match. Jankovic clobbered a better first serve share of 69 per cent as compared to the American’s 46 per cent but blocked only four out of 11 breakpoints she faced.
The American had won nine titles on clay courts and is bidding for her 44th WTA career title here. She will next face Australian star, Anastasia Rodionova, who upset the 10th seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues, in straight sets to set-up
this date.
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