Jelena Jankovic almost fell by the wayside before the third seeded Serbian staged a brilliant comeback to scrape past Lucie Safarova in a see-saw third round match in Wimbledon.
Swiss miss and former world number one Martina Hingis, however, was not as lucky as Jankovic and Hingis bowed out of the event with a defeat against Laura Granville.
Jankovic was pushed to the backfoot by Safarova of Czech republic, who won the first set to go one up in the match. Sensing danger, Jankovic pulled out all the tricks from her bag and the second set turned out to be a 75-minute rollercoaster with Jankovic finally winning it.
This was followed by rain interruption and once play resumed, Jankovic took reins in her hand and did not allow Safarova any leeway. Eventually, Jankovic won the match 5-7, 7-6, 6-2.
Seeded third in Wimbledon, Jankovic admitted it was not easy taming Safarova. She said
It was a big battle out there and at one point I was thinking ‘is there any way out?’
But I managed to win the second set somehow. I was fighting. I was staying strong and that was the difference.
In contrast, Serena Williams hardly had any trouble as she thrashed Milagros Sequera 6-1, 6-0, while Justine Henin trounced Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3.
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