Jelena Jankovic was in devastating form and Jill Crabas of United States felt her full wrath as she hammered her opponent into submission and in the process book a place in the last eight of the BMW Malaysian Open at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort.
Unlike her first round match where she was stretched to three sets by rising star Caroline Garcia of France, Jankovic brushed her opponent 6-2, 6-0.
“I never expected the match to be that easy. I did what I do for every match. I went onto the court totally focussed and played an aggressively ,” said the 27-year-old who is the second seed.
“Jill played well and was very solid. So iI had to play hard. The match was not as easy as it looked. It is never easy playing in these conditions too. I am soaked – looks as if I went swimming instead of playing tennis.”
However, despite the constant rain Jankovic has no qualms with it as she spends the hours , as she describes “sits around to eat” and “chat here and there”.
Jankovic started the first set in style, breaking serve in two of Craybas’ serves and was 4-0 up. It was then that Craybas started giving the Serb a fight, holding serves. The set ended 6-2.
The second set finished in a flash with Jankovic showing her older opponent no mercy as she romped to a 6-0 win in style to set up a quarterfinal tie with Ayumi Morita of Japan who defeated compatriot Misaki Doi in the second round today.
“I played her last year in the Fed Cup. She is 2-handed on both sides and that makes the balls flat.”
Jankovic insists that she is here to win the tournament like how she is for every other tournament.
Last week she was defeated by top seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the semifinal of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship. Does she want to set up a repeat of that match in Kuala Lumpur?
“It doesn’t really matter who I play. Yes it was a tough match last time. If we do meet, it will be an exciting match – it will be good for the crowd here and the tournament as well,” she added.
