TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN:AN EMOTIONAL Jelena Dokic scored her first win over a top-20 player in five years when she downed 17th-seed Anne Chakvetadze 6-4 6-7 (7-4) 6-3 in the second round of the Australian Open yesterday.
The 25-year-old, who is known as much for her estranged father Damir’s antics during the early part of her career as she is for her tennis, described the crowd’s reaction during the thrilling three-setter as “amazing”.
Dokic only picked up her racquet again at the end of 2007 after battling depression and other personal issues in the two years prior.
And while her relationship with Australian fans previously had been hot and cold, particularly when she switched her allegiance back to her native Serbia under the encouragement of her father, there was nothing but positive vibes for her out on Rod Laver Arena yesterday.
“I came back two or three years ago to Australia and obviously the crowd, I didn’t expect them to be on my side and to understand what happened seven years ago,” Dokic said.
“I will regret that decision that I made. I can say that I made it under the influence of my dad but I will regret leaving for the rest of my life. It will always be the mistake that I made.
“But I think tonight was an amazing experience. It’s been the best that I’ve ever had.”
In a match that lasted over two hours Dokic looked composed throughout and used her powerful ground strokes to run her Russian opponent around the court.
But she interspersed that with coming to the net on occasions to force the error from Chakvetadze and with the Russian battling fatigue in the final set Dokic was able to hold her nerve to claim her confidence-boosting win.
Her efforts have earned her a match with 11th-seed Caroline Wozniacki, who beat Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3 6-3.
While Dokic was the talking point of day three at Melbourne Park, top-seed Jelena Jankovic and fifth-seed Ana Ivanovic both reached the third round despite patchy performances.
Ivanovic struggled with her serve for large parts of her 6-3 6-2 win against Italian qualifier Alberta Brianti.
But coupled with her regular forays to the net and Brianti’s unforced errors she was able to negotiate her way to a third-round clash against Russian Alisa Kleybanova, who beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-1 6-3 6-2.
Jankovic was also relieved to have made it through to the third round after being put under pressure by Kirsten Flipkens in her 6-4 7-5 win.
The top seed, searching for her first grand slam title, needed one hour 46 minutes to see off the Belgian’s challenge.
Flipkens, ranked 110 in the world, was clearly not overawed to be playing the world number one but having got an early break in the second set to take a 3-1 lead, her unforced error count rose, allowing Jankovic to steal in for the win.
Third-seed Dinara Safina was forced to come from a set down against fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova to book her place in the next round.
In her two matches so far Safina has made 70 unforced errors. Her opponent yesterday was far more polished in the opening set which she eventually won on the tie-break.
The final two sets were a very different story as Safina broke Makarova, ranked 46 places below her, to take the match 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-0 and set up a tie with Kaia Kanepi, a 6-3 6-1 winner over Austrian Patricia Mayr.
THE DETAILS
MEN'S SINGLES: Round two– Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe) bt (10) David Nalbandian (Arg) 6-4 5-7 4-6 6-4 6-2, (15) Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) bt Brydan Klein (Aus) 6-3 6-4 6-4, (19) Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Ser) 6-2 6-3 4-6 6-3, (3) Novak Djokovic (Ser) bt Jeremy Chardy (Fra) 7-5 6-1 6-3, Amer Delic (USA) bt (28) Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra) 1-6 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 9-7, (11) David Ferrer (Spa) bt Dominik Hrbaty (Svk) 6-2 6-2 6-1, (2) Roger Federer (Swi) bt Evgeny Korolev (Rus) 6-2 6-3 6-1, Gilles Muller (Lux) bt Bernard Tomic (Aus) 3-6 6-1 6-4 6-2, Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) bt (16) Robin Soderling (Swe) 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-3, Fabrice Santoro (Fra) bt (32) Phillip Kohlschreiber (Ger) 5-7 7-5 3-6 7-5 6-3, (7) Andy Roddick (USA) bt Xavier Malisse (Bel) 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-1) 6-2, (26) Marat Safin (Rus) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa) 7-5 6-2 6-2, (20) Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Brian Dabul (Arg) 6-1 6-1 6-3, (21) Tommy Robredo (Spa) bt Viktor Troicki (Ser) 6-1 6-3 6-0, (23) Mardy Fish (USA) bt Simone Bolelli (Ita) 6-4 6-1 7-5, (8) Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg) bt Florian Mayer (Ger) 6-1 7-5 6-2.
WOMEN'S SINGLES: Round two:(10) Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Sania Mirza (Ind) 6-3 6-2, (26) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) bt Nathalie Dechy (Fra) 1-6 6-1 6-3, Jelena Dokic (Aus) bt (17) Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-3, (11) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa) 6-3 6-3, (16) Marion Bartoli (Fra) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bul) 7-5 6-2, Lucie Safarova (Cze) bt Marina Erakovic (Nzl) 6-1 3-6 9-7, (5) Ana Ivanovic (Ser) bt Alberta Brianti (Ita) 6-3 6-2, (19) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Mathilde Johansson (Fra) 6-3 4-6 6-3, (25) Kaia Kanepi (Est) bt Patricia Mayr (Aut) 6-3 6-1, (3) Dinara Safina (Rus) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Rus) 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-0, Sara Errani (Ita) bt Monica Niculescu (Rom) 6-2 6-3, (7) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) bt Edina Gallovits (Rom) 6-0 6-0, (15) Alize Cornet (Fra) bt Andrea Petkovic (Ger) 6-1 6-0, (1) Jelena Jankovic (Ser) bt Kirsten Flipkens (Bel) 6-4 7-5, (29) Alisa Kleybanova (Rus) bt Stephanie Cohen Aloro (Fra) 6-1 3-6 6-2, Galina Voskoboeva (Kaz) bt Karin Knapp (Ita) 6-4 6-1.
