CHARLESTON, South Carolina: Former world number one Jelena Jankovic survived a scare by rallying to beat unseeded Edina Gallovits 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the WTA Family Circle Cup on Tuesday.
Jelena Jankovic
The Serbian had to go the distance, needing two hours to beat Edina Gallovits of Romania at the US$700,000 clay court event.
The former winner and second seed received a bye into the round of 16.
“She (Gallovits) didn’t have anything to lose. She can just play freely and go after her shots,” said Jankovic, who won the tournament in 2007, and along with Nadia Petrova are the only lone ex-champions in the field.
It was first match on clay this season for Jankovic who is ranked seventh in the world.
“I think it’s a good thing I played a tough match like that because it gives you confidence and you get fitter and fitter for the next rounds,” said Jankovic.
World number 127 Gallovits started to fall apart in the third set.
“I feel like I pushed too much when I shouldn’t have and I didn’t go for it when I had it,” Gallovits said.
“It was hard to find the median in the third set.”
There were two surprises Tuesday as No. 11 Virginie Razzano of France lost to Monique Adamczak 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, while 15th seeded Melinda Czink of Hungary was ousted by Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands 7-6 (11/9), 6-3.
No. 4 seed Samantha Stosur, No. 7 seed Vera Zvonareva, No. 10 seed Elena Vesnina and No. 14 seed Vera Dushevina all advanced in straight set wins, while No. 12 seed Aleksandra Wozniak needed three sets to advance. — AFP