WIMBLEDON TENNIS 2015 UPSETS AND UPDATES AND FINALLY MIDDLE SUNDAY IS A DAY OFF BY GLOBAL CHICK

Written by: Global Chick on 4th July 2015

WIMBLEDON TENNIS 2015 UPSETS AND UPDATES AND FINALLY MIDDLE SUNDAY IS A DAY OFF BY GLOBAL CHICK

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia celebrates winning against Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic during their third round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 04 July 2015. EPA/GERRY PENNY |

Let Glitter Fall As “JJ ” ( Jelena Jankovic ) Bounces Defending Champ Kvitova From SW19

After the rain, the thunder and the lightning of last night came fireworks and glitter for all as Jelena Jankovic pulled off arguably the shock of the tournament so far, ousting defending champion Petra Kvitova 3-6 7-5 6-4.

She has managed to reach the last 16 four times but has never been able to break that barrier. The JJ we saw battling her way through all the bright young things at Indian Wells to scamper with the best of them, losing to Simona Halep.

But since then, with limbs falling off, greeted with her ever present optimism and humour, her clay court season, which should have yielded so much for her, ended up being over before it really began. Injury kept her out of the lead up events in Stuttgart and Madrid. A wildcard to Marrakech probably got stuffed into a bowl of cous-cous somewhere until a few good rounds in Rome and Strasbourg. All to no avail though as she crashed out in the first round of the French Open.

She picked up a run to the semi-final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and lost to Angelique Kerber in Birmingham where she joked with me about maybe needing a shovel to dig the ball out of the damp grass in the “traditional” summer conditions.

But fast forward to Wimbledon where unconscionably good weather has hardened up the courts and although the first set looked like it was going to be another Kvitova drive-by, especially after breaking Jankovic early in the second set, the wily Serb fought back and snaffled a break of her own to put things back on an even keel.

Kvitova can right batter the fluff off a poor ball, but Jankovic can soak up a fair bit of pace, and there has been some pleasing pop on her serve recently which I applaud. She put up a battle royal to break Kvitova with three set points.

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in action against Jelena Jankovic of Serbia during their third round match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 04 July 2015. EPA/GERRY PENNY

It was a more even affair in the final set, with neither blinking until right at the end. Four clear points in a row from Jankovic and her only match point and in typical fashion flopped to the ground in disbelief.

For all our joking around, it is good to see her put in these kinds of performances on the big stage – it is where she belongs with the drama and the attention.

On the flip side of the coin though, it was an understandably downhearted Kvitova in her post-match press conference: “Tough to explain. If I know what happened, I going to tell you. But really I’m not really sure what happened out there. I was kind of up in the second set. Suddenly I felt like she’s, you know, coming back, playing a little bit aggressive.

“Not to be in the second week of the favourite tournament for me is really sad. I don’t really know what I can say. That’s it.”

Jankovic was predictably giddy at reaching the fourth round for the fifth time. She said: “It’s a really big win for me, especially playing on Centre Court against a two‑time champion, Wimbledon champion.”

She continued: “I made myself think that grass, I cannot play on grass, because the last couple of years I’ve not done well here. One of the reasons is because I never played, you know, a warmup tournament before. I would just come from French Open. I would come here and wouldn’t know what I’m doing on grass. The points are going so fast. Before I know it, I’m out of the court (laughter).

“So this year I decided, you know, to make it a little bit different. So I played two warmup tournaments. I played ‘s‑Hertogenbosch semifinals, then I played in Birmingham, which I won in the past, many years ago.

“I think it helped. You know, it helped a lot to feel more comfortable on grass, to adapt to the surface. As well, I just wanted to give myself a chance to make something, to do something, at least better than in the previous years.

“Here I am in the fourth round, in the second week of Wimbledon. I just beat a defending champion. I mean, it’s unbelievable. You know, I don’t think I can ask for more. I hope to keep going.”

Another grass court queen to come a cropper was former finalist Sabine Lisicki. Her form on grass this year has been great, and we witnessed a fantastic semi-final between her and Angelique Kerber in Birmingham, as Kerber went on win the title. But it was a bad day for the Germans, as first Garbine Muguruza pipped Kerber in a first set tie-break after some outstanding tennis from both of them, and after going off the boil in the second, she ran away with it in the decider. Then Lisicki went out to Timea Bacsinszky, whose fairy tale year continues.

The men lost Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to the big serving Ivo Karlovic and Tomas Berdych, another former finalist, was in a bit of bother at the start of his match against Pablo Andujar before coming through, quite out of the public eye in four sets.

And Then :

*Talking of four sets, Aussie Sam Groth stole a third set tiebreak off Roger Federer, before service was resumed as his bid for an eighth title continues.

· * Marin Cilic saved all of humanity from another 70-68 fifth set involving John Isner as the two tree-serving gentlemen wrapped up their continued match from 10-10 in the fifth 12-10 to the US Open champion

· * Caroline Wozniacki levelled her head to head against Camila Giorgi to advance

· * Dustin Brown couldn’t quite back up the win over Rafael Nadal as he went out to Viktor Troicki who is in some rare grass court form

· * Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova continued their quest for a third straight doubles crown with a win over Brits Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith.

** Sunday is a day off for all concerned, and the whole kit and caboodle starts again on Monday. Until then, hand me that Pimms, give me those strawberries. Toodle pip.

Topics: global chick, Jelena Jankovic, Petra Kvitova, Sports, tennis update, Wimbledon 2015, Wta

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

10sBalls_com says:

July 4, 2015 at 2:10 pm

#Wimbledon #TENNIS 2015 UPSETS AND UPDATES AND FINALLY MIDDLE SUNDAY IS A DAY OFF BY GLOBAL CHICK- http://t.co/vzBP7pfYcn @Wimbledon #WTA