Jankovic Crashes out of AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Jelena Jankovic, the world No 1 went crashing out of the Australian Open in as Marion Bartoli of France defeated her 6-1 6-4 in the fourth round.

Bartoli the 16^th seed played out of her skin and completely dominated the match from the word go. Jankovic had no answers to what she encountered against Bartoli. Jankovic looked out of sorts as she could not find a sense of consistency or tempo.

The world no 1 has still not got a Grand Slam to her name half way into her fourth round match, she would have realized that she may have to wait till the French Open at least to realize that dream. Jankovic game was studded by a lot of unforced errors which only made it easier for her French opponent. Bartoli now will play against Russian Vera Zvonareva in the quarter final, she defeated Nadia Petrova.

Jankovic’s defeat today is being compared to steffi Graf’s defeat in the Australian Open when she too was the top seed. Graf also lost in the fourth round of the tournament.

On the other courts, Dinara Safina was forced to come back from 5-2 down in the third set of her match against Alize Cornet before winning 6-2 2-6 7-5.

Jankovic blamed her shock exit on her lack of practice. Jankovic hasn’t payed for a while now, she has not played competitively for the last two months. This is the first time a top seed has been conquered in the fourth round for more than a decade now. This was the first time Jankovic has been the top seed in a Grand Slam but after this defeat her ranking may be in question.

Meanwhile, this is Bartoli’s best performance in the Australian Open, in all her previous attemopts she failed to make it past the second round.

Bartoli who lost the 2007 Wimbledon final to Venus Williams scored 34 winners; double that of her opponent as she finished off the match in just 82-minutes.

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