Unable to handle wind, Jankovic ousted in third round
Jelena Jankovic returns a shot to Kaia Kanepi during their third round match. (Sept. 4, 2010) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
Another U.S. Open, another disappointing result for Jelena Jankovic. After a second-round exit in 2009, Jankovic couldn't get past the third round this year.
She was most definitely gone with the wind.
Kaia Kanepi, the women's 31st seed and the finest player Estonia ever produced, blew Jankovic, the fourth seed, out of the Open by handling the difficult conditions on the Arthur Ashe court Saturday. Kanepi won, 6-2, 7-6 (1), sending her into the round of 16 and sending Jankovic home.
"I had a really hard time hitting the balls," Jankovic said. "They were going all over the place. The wind was really strong and she handled these kind of conditions a lot better than I did."
Jankovic couldn't seem to adjust. She would get in position to hit a ball, then the wind would move it ever so slightly and she was out of position to hit it. Her serve toss was giving her fits, and several times she had to catch it and start over. On one serve, she hit the top of the frame, wiffling the ball over Kanepi's head into a lower level box.
"You get frustrated with the wind because you want to hit balls in a certain direction and they go everywhere except where you want them to go," Jankovic said. "It's physical because you have to move your feet a lot more. You have to be alert."
There is no one in this Open who moves her feet better than Caroline Wozniacki, the No. 1 seed. And again Saturday, she barely exerted herself in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Chan Yung-Jan. In three matches, Wozniacki has lost a total of three games.
The win sets up a match that promises to be just a little more difficult, against Maria Sharapova. "I need to be ready that she's going to attack from the first ball and I need to be fast," Wozniacki said.
Sharapova said: "She can run all day and get a lot of balls back and make you hit a ton of balls. She changes the pace really well, and keeps her opponents off balance. She does so many things well. That's why she's at the top of the game."
Yanina Wickmayer, whom Wozniacki beat in the semifinals here last year, had a tough match against veteran Patty Schnyder, winning, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (6). That sets up a fourth-round match with Kanepi.
In a match involving two seeded players, No. 7 Vera Zvonareva eliminated No. 25 Alexandra Dulgheru. 6-2, 7-6 (2).
