Jankovic: I let myself down

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:32

The 19-year-old had not made it past the second round of a grand slam prior to coming to Paris but she now has a great opportunity to make the semi-finals at Roland Garros thanks to her epic 3-6 6-0 9-7 win over Serbia’s Jankovic on Suzanne Lenglen court.

The Serb admitted afterwards she had been struggling with abdomen and toe pains during the match, and said: “I kind of let myself down in the second set – I should have won that game at 2-0. And then in the third set, I served at 6-5 and I had 30-0 and that’s when I should have gone more for my shots.”

Reaching the quarter-finals is already a massive achievement for Cirstea but she will fancy her chances of going further. She will next play Australian 30th seed Samantha Stosur, who thrashed French hope Virginie Razzano 6-1 6-2.

Meanwhile, second seed Serena Williams is bracing herself for a testing quarter-final against in-form Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova after easing through her fourth-round match against Aleksandra Wozniak.

The American needed just 53 minutes to record a 6-1 6-2 win on Philippe Chatrier court.

Kuznetsova, the seventh seed, found things more tricky in her triumph against Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska but the set she lost in the 6-4 1-6 6-1 victory was only the first the Russian had dropped this tournament.

Kuznetsova is also the only woman to defeat world number one Dinara Safina on clay this year.

Williams said: “She’s an excellent clay-court player. She’s been playing unbelievably well. This is when everything counts. I have to pick up my level and play a strong match, especially when playing somebody like Svetlana, who moves extremely well and doesn’t do anything bad.”

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