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Ambience Madrid Open 2019

Pennetta shocks Jankovic in Zurich


A bruised and battered Jelena Jankovic was dumped out of the Zurich Open by Italys Flavia Pennetta on Thursday afternoon.

Jelena Jankovic sustained a suspected wrist injury and a bloody knee during the two hour and 26-minute second round encounter.

Despite fighting on, the top seed had to settle for second best as world No.17 Pennetta wrapped up a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory.

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Jelena Jankovic had arrived in Switzerland on the back of three successive singles titles in Beijing, Stuttgart and Moscow and beat Pennetta only last week in straight sets on her way to the Kremlim Cup title.

Her recent form took her back to the world No.1 spot, which she still looks likely to hold onto until the end of the season.

Jankovic took a tumble at 6-5 in the first set when it looked like she hurt her left wrist and another fall in game three of the second prompted a visit from the trainer.

Pennetta was more dominant in the second set as three breaks of serve helped her take the match into a third set and she got the decisive break in game eight of the decider to lead 5-3 before holding with ease to finish Jankovic off.

Earlier on, Belarussian Victoria Azarenka enjoyed a rare whitewash when she thumped Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-0, 6-0.

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic also booked her quarter-final place with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden.


Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.