photo: getty images

Third seeded Jelena Jankovic lost her 3rd round match to Estonian Kaia Kanepi in straight sets, 4:6, 4:6.

It looks like the Estonian is just too strong for Jelena. Jelena was overepowered earlier today. Kanepi was serving well and she also play her forehands deep, precise and way too strong for JJ. Althoug she wasn't the favorite in this match, Kaia managed to defeat her higher-ranked opponent, wining a couple of matches in a row against the former world no.1.

Jelena was trying hard to level the score throughout the whole second set, but at the end of the set Jelena just gave in and Kanepi closed out the match 6:4, 6:4.

Jelena will lose points from the last season and her spot at the WTA Championships remains unsecured.

photo: getty images

Jelena Jankovic, the 3rd seed in Tokyo, defeated Alona Bondarenko in straight sets, 6:4, 6:1, to advance to the third round after just over an hour of play. Jelena's next opponent will be either Estonian Kaia Kanepi or Israeli Shahar Peer.

photo: getty images

Jelena Jankovic's U.S. Open hopes were literally blown away on Saturday when she was beaten 6-2 7-6 by Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the third round at Flushing Meadows.

The fourth seeded Jankovic was unable to control her serve and groundstrokes in the gusting winds on centre court, as Kanepi held her game together to reach the last 16 in New York for the first time.

Kanepi has been one of the biggest improvers on the women's professional tour this year, rising more than 100 places in the rankings since May.

She reached the quarter-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon and won her first WTA event at Palermo shortly after.

After dominating the first set, Kanepi opened the door for Jankovic to make a comeback when she failed to serve out the match. Jankovic then had the chance to force the match into a deciding third set but the former world number one's own serve let her down and Kanepi wrapped it up in the tiebreak.

At least, Jelena managed to defend her points from the last year when she lost in the 2nd round.

photo: getty

Number four seed Jelena Jankovic survived a feisty match against Croatia's Mirjana Lucic with a 6-4 3-6 6-2 victory at the U.S. Open on Thursday that booked the Serb's ticket into the third round.

The pair had repeated spats with the umpire over a host of contested line calls during their two-hour two-minute match on another steamy day inside Louis Armstrong Stadium.

"I'm just happy to get through - she gave me a really hard time," a tired Jankovic told reporters afterwards. "It's a step forward from the first round. I think I played much better ... but I have to pick it up. I'm working on it."

Prior to the contest, Lucic described being at the U.S. Open, only her second grand slam appearance since 2002, as "incredible."

But the sentiment failed to sum up her mood as she fell a set behind in her first ever meeting with Jankovic as both players struggled to hold serve.

Jankovic, the longest-serving member of the women's top 10 having been there since February 2007, looked confident going into the second set as Lucic received a medical timeout for an apparent blister on her right Achilles.

But the enforced interval appeared to help the 1999 Wimbledon semi-finalist's cause and she leveled the match and let out a roar in front of the sun-baked crowd.

Lucic moved ahead in the match as she broke to go 3-2 clear in the final set but it proved to be her last game of the match as Jankovic, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2008, won four consecutive games. Next for Jelena is Kaia Kanepi.

By REUTERS

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.

photo: getty images

Jelena Jankovic, 4th seed, didn't manage to advance to her first Roland Garros Finale despite being the highest seeded player in the semifinals. Jelena lost to Aussie Samantha Stosur in straight sets, 6:1, 6:3.

The French Open 2010 will have an unecspected finale after Dementieva retired in the first semifinal, and after Jelena won only 3 games against the 7th seeded Sam Stosur.

photo: getty images

Jelena Jankovic reached the French Open semi-finals for the third time in her career with a 7-5 6-4 defeat of Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova.
Jelena is the only player from top 5 who reached the semifinals and the highest remaining seed in the draw.


The fourth seed was given a tough time by the world number 36 but enjoyed some unlikely assistance from her opponent near the end of the one hour 31 minute contest.
Shvedova, who wore sunglasses, completely missed an easy smash to hand Jankovic a break of serve and level the second set at 4-4 and then served a double fault on match point down.
Serbia's Jankovic will face Samantha Stosur of Australia in the last four.

Interesting fact: None of the 4 semifinalists has won a Grand Slam.

Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic eased past Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the French Open on Monday.

Jankovic, a semi-finalist in Paris in 2007 and 2008, was rarely troubled by the 23rd seed during her one-hour and 25-minute stroll on Centre Court. Jelena and Daniela played a very tense first set, Jelena had lots of chances for break which she didn't use, but in the key moments she kept her cool and closed the first set out with 6:4. In the second set was all about Jelena, who improved her serve and movement drastically to win the match in straight sets, 6:4, 6:2.

The former world number one, looking to clinch her maiden grand slam tournament, wrapped up the win on her first match point when Hantuchova misfired a service return.

In the quarterfinals Jelena will meet with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. The match will be played on Wednesday.

photo: getty images

Jelena advanced to the forth round at the French Open after defeating 27th seed Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine in straight sets, 6:4, 7:6.

Jelena's match was the last played match on courts of Roland Garros on Saturday. Jelena defeated Bondarenko in straight sets, but this win was far from emphatic.

Jelena seemed to be nervous from the beginning of the match, rushing to close it out before the dark. It wasn't a high-level match, because it was full of breaks and unforced errors from both sides. Jelena made 33 unforced errors and managed to hold her serve mere 4 time throughout the 1 hour and 46 minutes lasting match. Jelena had 14 break points, but broke her opponent 8 times.

This was 11th meeting between Serbian no.1 Jankovic and Ukranian Bondarenko, with Jelena leading 10:1 now. Jelena's next opponent in the quarterfinals will be Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. Daniela and JJ are tied at 3:3, but Hantuchova won both matches they played this year, and even worse for Jelena, both matches were played on clay.

Serbian Jelena Jankovic ran into a spot of bother as she reached the third round of the French Open with a 6-2 3-6 6-4 win over Estonia's Kaia Kanepi on a soggy day at Roland Garros Thursday.

The fourth seed, twice a semi-finalist at Roland Garros, breezed through the first set in a buttercup yellow dress but she withered in the second set as Kanepi levelled the match.

Rain returned early in the third set, causing a 55-minute delay, but Jankovic managed to wrap up the win after two hours and four minutes when Kanepi sent a forehand long just before the tarpaulins were dragged back on to centre court.

Jankovic will next face Ukrainian 27th seed Alona Bondarenko. Jelena leads 9:1 against Bondarenko, but Alona won their last match at the Australian Open in January.

Jelena in Paris | photo: Getty Images

World number 4 Jelena Jankovic successfully overcame Alicia Molik to advance to the second round of the French Open.

Until this first round match in Paris Alicia Molik was leading 4:2 in previous encounters with Jelena. Alicia was never a fantastic clay-court player and due to her low ranking Jelena was the favorite in this match. In the first set it was all about Jelena as she served well, returned well and moved fantastically. Jelena was dictating points and left no chance for Molik. Jelena won the first set decisively- 6:0.

In the second set Jelena seemed less concentrated, but still she managed to break Molik's great serve and lead 3:2. At 4:2 for Jelena, Molik served a fantastic game closing it out with an ace. At 5:4 Jelena served for the match wining the game to-love. After just 62 minutes Jelena won 6:0, 6:4 and set up a clash with Kaia Kanepi from Estonia. Kaia Kanepi leads 1:0 in encounters with Jelena. Their played their one and only match this year in Dubai, where Jelena was 3rd seed and lost in straight sets.

After the match Jelena said: "I think I played well overall. First matches are always tough, and especially after waiting all day, I had get myself going and have the focus from the start and Alicia has a good serve. So I had to really concentrate on that to get a good return and start dictating the points. So overall, I'm happy with the first set how I played. Second set, I had some ups and downs, but overall was a good first round match for me."

Jelena also debuted her new dress made by ANTA. The dress is yellow, very bright and sexy. At the bottom of it, it has several layers, which look like a lace. Check out Jelena's dress in off-court gallery.

(photo: getty images)

Jelena wasn't able to stop impressive form of Iranian-French Aravane Rezai in the quarterfinal match in Madrid on Friday evening.

Jelena had a great opportunity to go to the finale of Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, but she was stopped in the quarterfinal match against Rezai. This was Rezai's first victory over Jelena in 3 attempts.

Jelena played the whole match without the first service, which made Rezai's jog much easier. Rezai wasn't so generous and didn't give much chances to Jelena. A couple of chances Jelena wasted pretty easily, but on the other hand Rezai was too aggressive and too strong for Jelena.

Rezai was serving for the first set at 5:3, but Jelena managed to break Frenchwoman's serve, and then hold to level the score to 5:5. Jelena had the opportunity to go 6:5 up but she squandered it. Rezai won 2 consecutive games and closed the set out 7:5.

In the second set Jelena's serve was broken early, and she was 2:0 down, but then JJ showed some impressive shots and showed that in tennis is not all about force, technique also counts, which brought us to 2:2. Jelena served, but failed ... again. Later in the second set Jelena didn't have many chances for return, as Rezai was hitting the balls early and really hard and accurate, and it was obvious that Rezai was the better player on Friday night.

If Jelena had shown more variety in her game, she would have turned the match in her favour, which wasn't the case.

At least Jelena managed to defend the points from the last season, where she was also stopped in the quarterfinals.

(photo: getty images)

Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic highlighted Thursday's third-round winners at the $4.5 million Madrid Open, a clay-court French Open tune-up.

The seventh-seeded Jankovic drilled Spain's own Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-0 on Day 6 at the Magic Box. The Serbian star advanced in 68 minutes, with the help of six service breaks in seven tries.

The surging former U.S. Open finalist Jankovic was last week's runner-up on the red clay in Rome.

Jankovic's quarterfinal opponent here on Friday will be France's Aravane Rezai. Jelena leads 2:0 in previous encounters with the Frenchwoman. Their latest match was in Dubai earlier this year.

(photo: Getty Images)

Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic edged a tense Serbian battle in Madrid second round when she came from a set down to beat Ana Ivanovic 4-6 6-4 6-1.


Serbian former number ones Jankovic and Ivanovic were out to claim bragging rights and both looked tense in a match littered with errors on the clay of Manolo Santana centre court.

They struggled to hold serve throughout, with Jankovic, wearing a bright green dress, breaking her orange-clad compatriot 11 times and losing her own serve on eight occasions.

Jankovic, the world number four and runner-up in Rome last week, will play Anabel Medina Garrigues for a place in the quarter-finals, after the Spaniard overcame Marion Bartoli on Tuesday.

"Overall, I am not really happy with the way that I played but a win is a win," Jankovic said.

"I had quite a lot of trouble in the first set and I didn't serve well and I wasn't really feeling the shots," the 25-year-old former number one added.

"I was quite a long way from where I was playing the past few weeks but then I just tried to stay as positive as possible."

Click here to download interview with Jelena in mp3.

(photo: Costantini)

Internazionali BNL d'Italia is over for 2010. Jelena Jankovic and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez were last two players in the tournament.

After defeating the Williams sisters Jelena couldn\t continue with her impressive run to the title. She failed to win the 13th career title and the 3rd in Rome due to straight sets loss to unseeded Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez who won her biggest title.

At the beginning of the first set Jelena had problems with Spaniard's strange playing style. Maria played her serve-and-volley game perfectly not leaving any chance for Jelena. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ran away with the result 5:2. That was the time when the 7th-seeded Serb added some fuel and won 4 consecutive games to go up 6:5. Everything seemed right, but Martinez Sanchez had some other plans. After saving Jelena's first set point, Martinez broke Jelena's serve. It was 6:6. In the tiebreak Jelena made some wrong decisions, it had looked like she forgot that Spaniard was left handed. Jelena attacked Sanchez to the wrong side and the first set went to Maria after more than one hour.

Jelena opened the second set with serve, but let to be broken. Martinez Sanchez held her serve and went up 2:0.  Martinez Sanchez continued with execution and flawless serve-volley tactics to go up 5:3. Jelena found the strength once again and levelled the result to 5:5. That was all what Jelena managed to take in the second set. Martinez Sanchez won the set 7:5 and fell of joy in the clay court, celebrating her biggest title. You can't say she didn't deserve it. But on the other hand, our drama queen was stopped on the last stair.

Next week Jelena plays in Madrid. As we wrote before, Jelena received the first round bye, while in the second round awaits Ana Ivanovic.

(photo: Reuters)

Jelena Jankovic, the 7th-seeded Serb defeated the world number 1 American Serena Williams in a dramatic semifinal encounter in Rome. Jelena ignored Serena's bad sportsmanship to win the match after more than 2,5 hours.

This was Jelena's and Serena's 8th encounter and first on the clay, Jelena now leveled the score up to 4:4.
At the beginning of the match Jelena made an early break, but let to be broken in the next. Jelena then made another break and was leading 2:1.That was the time when Serena turned things around. Jelena looked uninterested and not focused, letting Serena Williams to close out the set 6:4.

In the second set both players were struggling with their serves. At 3:3 Jelena started playing well and ran away with the result, closing out the set 6:3.

In the decider Jelena served first. Jelena had a couple of game points, but Serena put JJ under the pressure and made an early break. Serena was 2:0 up. At this point everything looked lost for the Serb, but she had other plans unfolding in her head. Jelena won 3 games in a row to level the score up 3:2. Serena ran out of energy. But the world number one found the motivation to win 3 straight games and to go up 5:3. Jelena held her serve, the score was 5:4. Serena served for the match, but failed thanks to Jelena's determination, 5:5. Jelena served, but she seemed kinda weak, letting Serena to go 6:5 up and to serve for the match again. Serena served furiously and gained a match point, which Jelena saved with a strange shot. Jelena broke Serena again! It was the tiebreak time. Serena was 3:0 up. Jelena never gave up, but Serena was just too good. Match point for Serena, and Jelena saved it again. Jelena had to deal with a bad sportsmanship from Serena Williams, Jelena was arguing with the umpire. Jelena was furious. JJ won two point, which was just enough to win the match. Jelena goes to the final, and her opponent will be either compatriot Ana Ivanovic or Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

By winning this match Jelena became just the 7th player who managed to defeat both Williams sisters in one tournament.

(photo: mondo)

Two-time champion Jelena Jankovic rolled to a surprisingly easy 6-0, 6-1 win Thursday over Venus Williams and prevented an all-Williams semifinal at the Italian Open.

Williams struggled with her serve and never really threatened on a cool evening at the Foro Italico.

Top-ranked Serena is up next for Jankovic.

photo: Internazionali BNL d'Italia

One day after defeating unseeded American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in 3 sets, Jelena destroyed 11th-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in straight sets, 6:2, 6:0 after just 59 minutes of playing.

This was the first meeting between these two players. From the beginning Jelena showed great consistency, great serves and the most important wonderful backhands-down-the-line which she used in most of the points. Jelena served out 6 aces and only one double fault, giving the opponent only one break point in the whole match, but Jelena's serve was never broken. On the other side, Jelena broke Wickmayer's serve 5 times.
Jelena's shots were deep, almost every near the baseline, and she was moving really well.

By winning this match Jelena defended points from the last season and will play against Venus Williams in the quarters. Jelena lost only one match to Venus on clay, and JJ will be absolutely favourite in that match tomorrow.

Jelena in Rome in 2008. photo: r.difulvio

As you all know Jelena received first round bye in Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.

Jelena's first opponent in the second round will be American and Jelena's very good friend Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Mattek-Sands secured a second round match against Jelena by defeating fellow American Melanie Oudin 6:1, 6:3.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands leads 2:0 in their previous encounters with their last match played five years ago.

Jelena Jankovic the 4th-seeded Serb lost the match to Henin after more than 2 hours playing and after wining the first set easily 6:3.

In the first set Jelena served and returned really great not leaving too many chances to Henin. Jelena never looked back and won the first set 6:3.
The story turned around in the second. Jelena's serve was not as efficient as in the first, she didn't move well and started making more and more errors. At 5:5 in the second set, Jelena had a break point for 6:5 and was in position to serve for the set after that, but nothing of this happened and the tiebreak was set to start. Jelena was leading 3:2, and then 4:3, but was unable to close the set out due to stupid decisions she made. Afterwards, Jelena surrendered the second set by making a double fault.

In the third set Jelena lost her serve at the very beginning, and didn't use 3 break points to break Henin, so the result was 2:0. After that Jelena won 3 consecutive games to get in the leading position, but that was all she took in the decider, 3 games only. Jelena had bunch of chances she didn't use and Henin was not waiting for Jelena, who looked uninterested, and closed out the match 6:3, 6:7, 3:6.

This was 10th meeting between Jelena and Henin, and Henin won all the matches.
It looks like Jelena likes it this way 0:10.
What do you think?