Venus Williams battled back from a set and 4-1 to beat Jelena Jankovic in the second round at Indian Wells.
Venus Williams took the scenic — and dramatic — route to the third round in Indian Wells Saturday evening. Despite a rough start, Williams beat Jelena Jankovic in three sets, winning 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.
The American, making only her second trip back to the tournament after refusing to play there for 15 years, came out with her leg heavily bandaged and movement restricted. She quickly lost the first set 6-2 as Jankovic took advantage by hitting deep targets side-to-side.
Jankovic starting the second set strong, too, leading 4-1, before Williams began to mount a comeback, but again, even that wasn’t easy. Williams evened the set at 5-all, and in the ensuing tiebreak had to come back from behind to level the match.
The third set was all Williams as she pounded groundstrokes across the court against an increasingly dispirited Jankovic. Williams won 79 percent of her first serve points in the third set, compared to just 17 percent in the first. Jankovic, meanwhile, won 76 percent of the points in the first set, compared to 29 percent in the third.
After the match, when asked about how she managed to navigate her comeback, Williams told the crowd: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over. And I didn’t hear no fat lady singing.”
The win was the first since 2001 at Indian Wells for Williams. She returned to the event last year, but lost in her first round.
In other results, Fabio Fognini upset Jo-Wilfred Tsongas, winning 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4. Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Sara Sorribes Tormo.
Julia Goerges beat Samantha Stosur 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Caroline Wozniacki beat Magda Linette 6-3, 6-0, and Madison Keys won her first match of 2017, beating Mariana Duque-Marino, 6-1, 7-5. She’ll next play Naomi Osaka, who led Keys 5-1 in the third set at the U.S. Open in 2016 before Keys came back to win the match.
