Instead, the world’s No. 2 ranked player was left with doubt
after a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Alisa Kleybanova on Wednesday night in the second
round of the Mercury Insurance Open.
Jankovic, who has not played since suffering an ankle injury
two weeks ago, looked like she would have little trouble with Kleybanova when
she broke the Russian’s serve in the first and third games of the first set,
and held her own serve for a 4-0 lead.
But Jankovic
unraveled at that point as the 28th-ranked Kleybanova picked up her intensity
and won 11 of 12 games to capture the first set and jump out to a 4-0 lead in
the second.
“I wasn’t really worried about it,” Kleybanova said. “You
don’t have to get panicked. I said to myself to keep trying to find the key and
pick up the pace.”
The defeat left Jankovic blaming her sprained left ankle for
getting bounced out in her first match.
“I had some fear moving, at times in doubt because I’m
afraid to twist it again,” she said. “I’m still not confident 100 percent in
the matches when I have to move side to side.”
Jankovic was playing in her first match since she was forced
to retire during the Slovenia Open with a left ankle injury two weeks ago.
But she insisted despite not a lack of practice time and
uncertainty about her ankle, it was important for her to return to the court to
prepare for the US Open.
“I need to train and I need to get back in shape,” Jankovic
said. “It’s tough to play when you’re not in shape. I was wishing to play as
many matches as possible and get match tough and be ready for the Open.”
Kleybanova broke Jankovic to tie the first set at 5-all
before holding her own serve and winning the set when Jankovic hit a backhand
into the net.
“I had to get used to her game and also to settle down my
game, too,” Kleybanova said.
Kleybanova has four career wins against Top 5 players but
never any ranked as high as Jankovic.
Kleybanova broke Jankovic’s serve in consecutive games to
start the second set as she went in front 4-0. Jankovic, the top seed who
received a first-round bye, suffered her first opening-match loss since January
when she dropped a first-round match to Agnes Szavay at the Medibank
International.
French Open finalist Samantha Stosur advanced to the
quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 win over American teenager Melanie Oudin.
Stosur, the No. 2 seed, used her powerful serve to control
Oudin. The Australian also broke Oudin’s serve late in both sets en route to
her second-round win.
“I felt like at the start I wasn’t timing the ball as well
as I wanted to,” Stosur said. “But as the match went on, I felt like I played
better and better. I dictated and thought I served well. Overall, I was very
happy.”
Stosur, who had a first-round bye, is coming off a semifinal
showing last week at the Best of the West Classic, where she lost to eventual
champion Victoria Azarenka. Oudin lost to Azarenka last week in a second-round
match.
“I’m feeling confident,” Stosur said. “I think I’m going
along the right path to, hopefully, having a good US Open.”
Oudin, who made a run to the US Open quarterfinals last
year, never really got into the match against Stosur, the world’s No. 5 player.
“I thought I played pretty well,” said Oudin, ranked No. 45.
“She’s 5 in the world and I was right in there with her the whole time. I’m not
going to get down on myself.”
Oudin broke in the fourth game of the first set for a 3-1
lead. But Stosur took control with consecutive breaks against Oudin’s serve
plus holding her own serve twice to go ahead 5-3. In the sixth game, Stosur
served consecutive aces, including one at 113 mph.
“Sam is pretty much an extremely tough opponent for me,
especially because of her kick serve and her serve,” Oudin said. “It’s really,
really tough to break her. It puts a lot of pressure on my serve because I know
that I have to hold.”
Stosur, who lost to Francesca Schiavone in this year’s
French Open finals, used the only break of the second set to take a 4-3 lead.
In other second-round matches, fourth-seeded Agnieszka
Radwanska of Poland defeated Russia’s Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-3, and No. 7 seed
Shahar Peer of Israel advanced with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava
Shvedova.
