photo: Philip Hall/usopen.org

The 4th seed Jelena Jankovic opened the day programme at 5pm CET and finished it after 140-minute-long torture with Romanian qualifier Simona Halep.

After 140 minutes, 15 breaks of serve, 7 double faults and only 1 ace Jelena Jankovic managed to close out the match successfully 6:4, 4:6, 7:5.

Jelena looked strong at the beginning of the match, taking the lead 3:0. After 5 breaks of serve Jelena managed to keep her serve and win the first set 6:4.



In the second set Halep had the momentum on her side as she goes 4:0 up. Simona Halep looked tired and she was not moving well which helped Jelena to take the full advantage of it and to lift the score up. Once again Romanian seemed motivated and strong, wining the second set 6:4.

The final set was a nerve breaker. Breaks of serve continued during the first two games, but then JJ held her serve and went 2:1 up, At 4 all, Jelena relented and let a qualifier break her serve. Halep was serving for the match, but the 4th seed came back strong winning the next 3 games to win the dramatic match 6:4, 4:6, 7:5.

In the next round Jelena's opponent will be Croatian Mirjana Lucic.

IMPORTANT: Jelena has a chance of becoming no1 player in the world after the US Open. All she has to do is to lift the trophy.