FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil – Top seed Jelena Jankovic was sent crashing out of the Brasil Tennis Cup at the hands of Romania’s Ana Bogdan in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.
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Jankovic struggled as much with the conditions in southern Brazil as she did against her No.127 ranked opponent.
“It was a tough match overall. It’s completely different conditions here playing in the evening,” she said. “The ball moved so slow – it didn’t go anywhere. I hit as hard as I could, it wouldn’t take spin, nothing.
“The conditions didn’t really suit my game. It was better for Bogdan, and she won.”
Both players’ discomfort with the heavy conditions was evident in the 12 breaks of serve throughout the course of the hour and a half match. In fact, Bogdan was the only one to manage to hold in the opening set, doing so twice to put herself firmly ahead in the score.
Jankovic was able to impose her game more in the second set, and broke Bogdan’s serve three times to climb to a 5-4 lead and bring up three set points. The Romanian denied her the chance to even the scoreboard and broke right back.
“I just wanted to continue playing and not think about the score or anything else,” Bogdan said of the nerve-wracking moment. “Sometimes you get really nervous and you can’t control your emotions. I knew who she was and what a great champion she was, but I just tried not to think about that. I just kept going and believed in myself.”
Bodgan powered through to take the next two games and book a spot in her second WTA quarterfinal of her career.
“It’s definitely one of the greatest victories I’ve had until now,” Bodgan said. “I can’t compare it to any other match I’ve played.”
Bogdan will face Tereza Martincova in the next round. The Czech came away the winner in her match against lucky loser Lyudmyla Kichenok, the author of last round’s big upset of defending champion Teliana Pereira.
No.3 seed Monica Puig had a more straightforward road to the quarterfinals after defeating Olga Savchuk 6-0, 6-4.
After being completely shut out in the first set, Savchuk came out swinging in the second, playing more aggressively and hitting more winners. The change of tactic wasn’t enough to breakthrough against the Puerto Rican’s solid hitting, and Puig earned the decisive break in the ninth game to take the match after barely past an hour.
“It’s nice to be back here in Latin America where I have my roots,” Puig said after the match. “It feels very nice to be representing as the No.1 Latin American player. There’s always a lot of pride and responsibility on my shoulders, but I like it.”
Up next for Puig is the No.8 seed Naomi Osaka, a familiar face for her as the two have been practicing together earlier in the week.
“She definitely hits the ball very hard and has a big serve,” she said. “I’ll just focus on my game and do what I need to do put her in trouble, but I have a lot of respect for her of course.”
Also into the quarterfinals is No.4 seed Jelena Ostapenko who is set to take on No.6 seed Timea Babos. Ostapenko comfortably dispatched Argentina’s Catalina Pella 6-2, 6-3, while Babos came through after a commanding win over Alizé Lim, dropping just one game in the 6-0, 6-1 romp.
No.2 seed Irina-Camelia Begu dashed the last of the Brazilian hopes for a home champion as she defeated Paula Cristina Goncalves in straight sets. Goncalves was one of five Brazilians in the draw and the only one to advance past the first round, but she couldn’t move on against Begu, who downed her 6-1, 6-2. She’ll play No.7 seeded Nao Hibino next after the Japanese player edged Veronica Cepede Royg 6-3, 7-6(6).
