Jankovic survives marathon, Azarenka tumbles out

Published January 08, 2015

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

INDIAN WELLS, California (Reuters) - Jelena Jankovic had to fight her way into the fourth round of the Indian Wells WTA tournament Monday, while third seed Victoria Azarenka made a premature exit at the hands of Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Serbian sixth seed Jankovic beat Italian Sara Errani 2-6 7-6 6-4 in an error-strewn marathon, before Azarenko, the world number six, was upset 7-6 6-2 by 28th-seeded Martinez Sanchez.

Azarenka of Belarus had reached at least the quarter-finals in her first three WTA events this year but tumbled out of Indian Wells after being broken five times.

"It was really a battle out there, and I just tried to stay positive as much as I could," Jankovic, a semi-finalist here in 2008, told reporters. "I just tried to fight for every point and kept going and kept going.

"I couldn't really play consistently the whole time. I would play a couple of points well and then I would just give away a lot of points. I would give, in a way, a lot of gifts."

Errani had been bidding to beat a top-10 player for the first time in 12 attempts and she broke the world number nine three times to sweep through the opening set in just 31 minutes.

Jankovic squandered a 3-1 lead in the second, along with five set points in the tiebreak, but leveled the match with a crunching forehand winner down the line.

GREATER EXPERIENCE

The final set was also an up-and-down affair with Errani being broken three times and Jankovic twice but the Serb made her greater experience count.

After trailing 2-4, she won the next four games to reach the fourth round for the third time in four years.

"I think I need to be in these kinds of situations," Jankovic said. "It's been a while since I played a lot of matches and winning these kinds of matches gives me a lot of confidence.

"The more I play, the better I will get. So I'm happy that I was able to get through this match and get another chance tomorrow."

Jankovic will next meet 17th-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer, who beat ninth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4 6-7 6-1.

In other matches, holder Vera Zvonareva of Russia comfortably advanced by beating Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova 6-2 6-3 and eight-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur crushed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-3 6-0.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/jankovic-survives-marathon-azarenka-tumbles-out