The two finalists of last week’s WTA Premier Tournament in St.Petersburg Roberta Vinci and Belinda Bencic were knocked out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Tournament in the first round.
Bencic was just two games from reaching the second round but Jankovic completed her come.back to win in three sets by 4-6 7-5 6-4.
Bencic, who finished runner-up to Roberta Vinci in the St.Petersburg’s final last weekend, went up a set and a break in the seventh game of the second set to lead 6-4 4-3. Jankovic reeled off nine consecutive points and converted her sixth set point to win the second set 7-5.
Bencic fended off seven break point chances including three in the 8th game of the third set but Jankovic converted her eighth chance on the match point to seal the win after 2 hours and 31 minutes.
“I just fought every point. I tried to hang in there. Belinda was playing so well and I was almost on the edge of losing in the second set but I fought hard and I am lucky to win”, said Jankovic.
Yaroslava Schvedova beat last week’s St Petersburg champion Roberta Vinci 6-0 4-6 6-3 after 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Vinci went down 0-6 0-2 but bounced back reeling off five consecutive games to take a 5-2 lead in the second set. In the 8th game Schvedova broke serve. At 5-4 Vinci held her service game to 30 before sealing the second set on her second set point.
In the third set Schvedova broke serve to go up 2-0 but dropped her serve in the third game. At 3-3 Vinci went up 15-40 but failed to convert four break points as Schvedova hit four winners to hold her serve. In the next game Schvedova broke serve to 15 as Vinci made two unforced errors. At 5-3 Schvedova held her service game to love to seal the win. From 3-3 Schvedova reeled off 10 points to 1.
Schvedova hit 43 winners to 47 unforced errors and converted 7 of her 11 break points Vinci fired 14 winners to 31 unforced errors and converted 4 of her 16 break point chances.
Schvedova will take on Sara Errani in the second round.
