The first day of the Fed Cup meeting between Russia and Serbia ended with both teams winning one match. Somewhat surprisingly, especially after the talks about her injury, Jelena Jankovic upset Svetlana Kuznetsova on Day 2, which gave Serbia a 2-1 lead on home soil. Congratulations to Jankovic for winning both her singles matches!

So, Jankovic defeated Kuznetsova 6-3 4-6 6-3, but her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic couldn’t finish off the tie and lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-3 in the following match. Ivanovic’s free fall ended a long time ago, but the sad thing is that she is still lying wounded on the ground.

With the result tied at 2-2, the decisive doubles match was played, and as Jankovic and Ivanovic are not used to playing doubles, they were knocked out by Kuznetsova and Kleybanova 6-1 6-4.

Four-time Fed Cup champions Russia thus entered the Fed Cup semifinals which will be played on 24-25 April. Their opponent will be the US, who won 4-1 in France, without the Williams sisters. (photo via Blic)

I was supposed to go to Fed Cup tie between Serbia and Russia in Belgrade, but the weather conditions are so bad that there was no way I could travel 86 km. Anyway, I watched it on TV from my cozy room and I could see Ana Ivanovic getting crushed by Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Jelena Jankovic recovering from a set and 4-1 down to beat Alisa Kleybanova.

World No.4 Kuznetsova defeated Ivanovic 6-1 6-4 in the first match of the day. After blowing the Serb in the first set, Kuznetsova rallied from 4-2 down in the second to seal the first win for Russia. Once ranked No.1 now No.23 Ivanovic made 50 unforced errors and six double faults.

The second match of the day looked to be heading in the direction of Russia’s victory as well, but world No.8 Jankovic overturned the result while trailing 4-6 1-4 and won 11 games in a row to defeat 31st-ranked Kleybanova 4-6 6-4 6-0.

As you can see, after the first day of the Serbia vs. Russia Fed Cup quarterfinal the countries are tied at 1-1. Reverse singles and doubles will be played tomorrow, on Sunday. (photos via Blic)

Russia and Serbia will face each other in this weekend's Fed Cup first-round tie played in Belgrade, Serbia.

The latest news is that Russia’s team will be stronger than previously planned, as their highest ranked player world No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova changed her mind and joined world No.31 Alisa Kleybanova, No.38 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No.40 Vera Dushevina in the team.

However, Serbia’s team is likely to be weaker than expected because of Jelena Jankovic’s health problems. It should have consisted of former world No.1s Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, along with Ana Jovanovic and Bojana Jovanovski, but now we will see what will happen.

Here’s what Jankovic told her official website:

No, I haven't come to Belgrade yet, and I'm still in Florida, where I'm fighting with back injury received in Melbourne. I didn't want to speak in public about the problems that struck me in Australia, about the cold and the back injury that occurred during a practice while trying to change the way I served, because many would describe it to as a justification for the lost match […] Unfortunately, the situation got complicated, so I'm still in Florida, sad and in great uncertainty whether I would start the journey to my home town.

Serbia is making its World Group debut. Russia won the Fed Cup four times between 2004 and 2008 and Kuznetsova was part of three winning Russian teams. (photo by our reader Elisa)

Jelena Jankovic followed her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic out of the Australian Open, losing to Ukrainian seed No.31 Alona Bondarenko 6-2 6-3 in the third round.

The eighth-seeded Jankovic became the second highest women’s seed to be knocked out of the tournament, after seed No.5 Elena Dementieva lost in the second round . The Serb committed forty unforced errors and lost to Bondarenko for the first time in 10 encounters. Previously, Jankovic had lost just one set to Bondarenko in nine meetings.

The world No.30 Bondarenko has now reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time.

Some time ago – ok, a long time ago – this was not a reason to celebrate, but now we should mention that both Serbian women’s tennis stars Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic passed their first-round matches at the Australian Open.

The 20th-seeded Ivanovic scored an easy and confidence-boosting 6-2 6-3 victory over American Shenay Perry. Remember, at her last Grand Slam appearance, which was the 2009 US Open, Ivanovic lost in the opening round.

Jankovic, the eighth seed, saw off Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-4 6-0 in the first round. This year Jankovic is under much less pressure than last time when she entered the Australian Open ranked No.1. Other players are in focus now, such as for example comeback stars Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. Jankovic could maybe use that to improve on her last year’s fourth round exit.

Ivanovic’s opponent in the second round will be world No.36 Gisela Dulko, while Jankovic will face 87th-ranked Katie O’Brien. (photo: Getty Images)