Venus Surges Through, Jankovic Struggles!

May 29th, 2008

Paris, France

Day 5 of the 2008 Roland Garros tournament began today with Venus Williams playing her second round match on Court Phillipe-Chatrier. Williams, who struggled a bit in her opening round match was much more impressive today. Attacking the net seemed to make the biggest difference in her game as she won 24 out of 35 times at the net. Williams is looking forward to progressing through the tournament and possibly setting up a match with Jelena Jankovic in the Quarter-Finals. Venus won todays match against Selima Sfar, 6-2, 6-4.

Jelena Jankovic on the other hand struggled with her form today, saying her arm was the cause of her woes. Jankovic came out in the first set, playing well and taking it 6-2. It wasn't until the second set where her opponent, Marina Erakovic began playing more aggressively that Jankovic began having problems. Enough problems to go to the tiebreak, before Jankovic finally closed it out, 7-6(5).

Maria Sharapova couldn't finish her match against Bathanie Mattek and will have to play her third straight day in a row tomorrow to finish the match. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, both former finalists played their second round matches today and each played their usual, aggressive and attacking style which earned them, 6-4, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-4 scores respectively.

French hopeful Alize Cornet won her second round match over Gisela Dulko, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 but Amelie Mauresmo did not progress as she crashed out 6-3, 6-4. Mauresmo will have to go back to the drawing board after such a painful loss here in Paris.

Tomorrow features, Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams once again trying to make the Round of 16(with the exception of Sharapova trying to reach the Third Round)

Results:

Court Phillipe-Chatrier

(8)Venus Williams d. Selima Sfar - 6-2, 6-4

Carla Suarez Navarro d. (22)Amelie Mauresmo - 6-3, 6-4

Court Suzanne Lenglen

(3)Jelena Jankovic d. Marina Erakovic - 6-2, 7-6(5)

(19)Alize Cornet d. Gisela Dulko - 6-0, 4-6, 6-4

Court 1

Casey Dellacqua d. Nathalie Dechy - 6-4, 6-2

(4)Svetlana Kuznetsova d. Vania King - 6-4, 6-2

Court 2

(7)Elena Dementieva d. Marta Domachowska - 6-1, 6-4

Top 10 Seeds:

1. Maria Sharapova - Round 2

2. Ana Ivanovic - Round 3

3. Jelena Jankovic - Round 3

4. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Round 3

5. Serena Williams - Round 3

6. Anna Chakvetadze - Lost in Round 2(Kanepi)

7. Elena Dementieva - Round 3

8. Venus Williams - Round 3

9. Marion Bartoli - Lost in Round 1(Dellacqua)

10. Patty Schynder - Round 3