Victoria Azarenka nails down Jelena Jankovic in the second round – Apia International Sydney 2012
Belarusian world number three, Victoria Azarenka, knocked out the Serb former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, in the second round of Apia International Sydney on Tuesday. It was a straight forward contest as Azarenka was clearly
a better player in all segments; took just an hour and 19 minutes to overpower the Serb with a score of 6-4, 6-2.
It was a perfect triumph in terms of head-to-head scores as well; third seed, Azarenka, leads the tally with 4-3 now. Belarusian started the rivalry with a win, way back in Miami in 2006. Jankovic tripled her lead after the first
loss by winning in Australian Open 2007, JP Morgan Chase Open 2007 and Cincinnati 2009. It was high time for reigning world number three to put the brakes on loses and she recovered the trail of two games by winning in Doha for two successive years. This triumph
placed the third seed on the driving seat for the first time in her career against reigning world number 14, Jankovic.
Ironically, match was dominated by Jankovic in the early half as she held her serve and broke in the second to take 2-0 lead. Belarusian replied instantly with a break in the third to reduce the trail and held her serve to level
the scores at 2-2. Both players held their serves for the next two games as the scores pushed to 3-3.
Belarusian third seed picked up momentum in the seventh game and dominated the proceedings with two successive down the line winners coupled with one beautifully placed drop shot; break in the seventh game gave Azarenka the lead
that was doubled with a successful serve game afterwards. Jankovic failed to break back to level the scores and lost the set.
The Serb started the second set in a promising manner and smashed couple of aces in the first game to stamp her authority. Azarenka didn’t hesitate and held her nerves to bag the first serve game of the second set. Aggressive attitude
of Jankovic backfired as she couldn’t return a dolly smash and thumped it straight into the net.
Azarenka broke in the third game and drew curtains for her opponent with another break in the fifth game to consolidate her winning position. Jankovic knew that she had lost it there and made no effort in the remaining games to
pull off an upset.
Azarenka moves into the quarters; will contest against French eighth seed Marion Bartoli.
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