Charleston: Jankovic now through easily, Wozniacki gets a walkover to quarterfinals

On a rainy day in Charleston, that allowed the completion of only half of the third-round matches, ninth seed Jelena Jankovic advanced to the quarterfinals with a comfortable 6-0 6-4 victory over Jessica Pegula, which came after two tight matches (almost three hours against Melanie Oudin in the first round and two match points saved in the second round against Caroline Garcia). The former world No.1 Jankovic is enjoying a revival of form these weeks, having now won 12 of her last 14 matches, which includes the title in Bogota and Miami semifinals.

In the Charleston quarterfinals Jankovic will play Eugenie Bouchard, who didn’t have to complete her third-round match, as third seed Samantha Stosur retired with a calf injury while trailing 1-6 0-2.

Another quarterfinal that was set on Thursday was also half determined without play, as Andrea Petkovic gave a walkover due to a calf injury to second seed Caroline Wozniacki, who will face Stefanie Voegele, the player who upset tenth seed Julia Goerges, 3-6 6-1 6-3.

The schedule on Friday will be very packed, as the remaining third-round matches and all the quarterfinals are set to take place. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Jankovic wins two long matches in a row to advance to the third round of Charleston

At the Family Circle Cup, after a dramatic 6-4 5-7 6-4 first-round victory over Melanie Oudin, in which Jelena Jankovic fell down and almost broke her back or her leg when her foot got stuck in the clay to finally win in a just five minutes less than three hours, on her fifth match point, having saved 17 of 22 break points in the match, the ninth-seeded Serb played another three-setter, this time against Caroline Garcia of France. There was another fall on clay for JJ and two match points against her, before she, after losing the first set 5-7, squeezed through the second-set tiebreak 12-10, and won the third set 6-3. Next for Jankovic will be Jessica Pegula, who upset eighth seed Mona Barthel 7-6(4) 6-1 to reach the third round.

In other Wednesday’s second-round matches, the highest seed in action, No.2 Caroline Wozniacki, lost just nine points in seven service games to defeat Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-1 6-1 and will next play Andrea Petkovic. Third seed Samantha Stosur saved all five break points to beat Marina Erakovic 6-1 6-2 and is awaiting Eugene Bouchard, who eliminated friend Laura Robson in the second round. Besides the 16th-seeded Robson, the only other seed that lost on Wednesday was Sabine Lisicki, who fell to Mallory Burdette 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5. Venus Williams, Lucie Safarova and Julia Goerges also advanced. (via Women Who Serve)

Sharapova earns fifth shot at clinching the Miami title

Starting the match by winning the first ten points and finishing it with 59 points to her opponent's 29, Maria Sharapova stormed past unlikely former world No.1 semifinalist Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-1 to reach her fifth Miami final, hoping to finally win the title in the city where she first landed when she moved to the United States as a child.

Sharapova has now won 11 straight matches, 22 straight sets, 45 straight matches against players outside the Top 20 and four against the Serb. Now her task is to improve her 0-4 record in Miami finals when she faces the winner of the Serena Williams vs. Agnieszka Radwanska semifinal. Serena won Miami five times, while Radwanska is defending champion. (photo: sr_cranks)

Fila gets innovative with Heritage Carwash dress for Jelena Jankovic

Jelena Jankovic debuted a so called Fila Heritage Carwash dress this week at Indian Wells, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round, despite bageling the Russian in the first set. Final score was 0-6 6-2 7-5.

The highlight of the dress is what looks like a pleated bottom but is actually a bunch of straps that sway and bounce as you play. Jelena wore a blue version of the dress and over it a new Heritage sweater. The dress also comes in white and costs $90, while the sweater is $80.

Kuznetsova, who switched from wearing Fila to Qiaodan in the beginning of this year, had a slight wardrobe issue during the encounter and had to take off her tight leggings in order to be able to move more freely. (source: Tennis Identity)

Jankovic's first visit to Bogota victorious

Former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic claimed her first title in three years at a small tournament in Bogota, the Copa Claro Colsanitas, cruising past first-time finalist Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 6-1 6-2. But not the whole week was this easy – against Julia Cohen in the first round Jankovic battled for more than three hours, while against Karin Knapp in the semis the third-set tiebreak decided the winner. The other two players the top-seeded Jankovic defeated during the week were Mariana Duque-Marino and Alexandra Cadantu.

This is Jankovic's 13th career title, while in the three-year drought period she lost five WTA finals.

At the other $235,000 tournament of the week, the US National Indoor Tennis Championships in Memphis, Marina Erakovic became the first New Zealander in 24 years to win a WTA title when third seed Sabine Lisicki retired from the final because of gastrointestinal illness. At the moment Erakovic was leading 6-1 0-0. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)


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