The Medibank International is just finishing up in Sydney, Australia. One of our Wicked Backhand readers subscribes to The Tennis Channel and I do not, so I wanted to share with you his account of yesterday’s semifinal match between Jankovic and Vaidisova:
“Wow, what a slugfest between Jankovic and Vaidisova. Jankovic was really stretched to her limit but was she tough in the clutch. I thought Vaidisova could have won it but when the points got very important late in the 3rd she just wasn’t mentally as tough as Jankovic. Nicole has a big game though–what Mary Carillo coined ‘Big Babe Tennis’. I love that. She has that kind of game as does Jelena but she has a more well-rounded game. I’ll be very surprised if Jelena has enough to take care of Clijsters. She is certainly a good bet for winning a slam this year.” (Contributed by Linus Minsk)
Though Clijsters did beat Jankovic in the finals, Jelena managed to knock off Hingis in the first round of play and Mauresmo in the quarterfinals; she certainly does look to be a contender for a Grand Slam win this year. Despite losing to Clijsters, Jankovic climbed to number 11 in world rankings. As for Clijsters, what a way to begin her last year in professional tennis!
The Clijsters-Jankovic match was an epic, and I’m sure disappointing for Jelena. She served for the match in the 2nd set at 5-4 and 6-5 and had a match point but could not close Kim out. Jelena seems to lose focus and energy and poise at key points in the match by disputing line calls. To her credit she didn’t fold after losing the tie-breaker in the 2nd set and then going down 0-4 in the final set–bravely fighting back to 4-5 but Klijsters was too much in control by then and I think after 2 grueling matches in 2 days Jelena had no gas left in the tank. She should be proud of herself though. She had quite a fortnight. Hopefully she can break through and win a slam soon. Clijsters might be a good bet to win a slam this year if Maria isn’t focused and Justine and Amalie don’t regain their ‘06 form. Very entertaining matches.