By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, March 16, 2015
Jelena Jankovic reeled off the final five games to cap a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Madison Keys to reach the Indian Wells round of 16.
Photo credit: @BNPParibasOpen
Jelena Jankovic saw another blast from Madison Keys buzz past and bang off the back wall. Down 1-3 in the decisive set, the former world No. 1 took a moment tugging on her ankles to stretch out her legs.
After spending most of the prior two hours chasing an opponent 10 years younger, Jankovic looked like a woman spinning her wheels. Instead, Jankovic tuned up her shots, turned the match around and ran Keys right out of the BNP Paribas Open.
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In a match between one of the game's most explosive servers and its most accurate returners, Jankovic absorbed the American's pace and shrewdly redirected her drives to reverse course.
The 18th-seeded Serbian reeled off five consecutive games to complete a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 comeback victory and advance to the Indian Wells round of 16.
A back injury prevented Jankovic from practicing for much of the offseason, she arrived in the desert with a bleak 2-4 record, she strained her leg muscle in practice a few days before the tournament then found herself feeling like she was trapped on the wrong side of a shooting gallery as Keys crushed balls into the corners.
"It was like bombs or bullets constantly coming at me for about two-and-a-half hours. Her ball is so strong," Jankovic said in her post-match press conference. "It's such a heavy ball. I think she's probably, maybe with Serena, probably the hardest-hitting player out there in this moment. She hits the ball at such a high pace. It's unbelievable. It was not easy. I was trying to stay low. I was trying to, you know, get those balls back as much as I could. She did not give me a lot of rhythm."
Feeling the pressure of Keys' sledgehammer forehand, Jankovic double faulted to face break point. She was powerless as Keys plastered a forehand winner to break for 5-4. At that point, Jankovic had managed only one winner in the match, but she hung in, crept inside the baseline to greet a second serve and slashed a backhand return to break back for 5-5.
Keys hits so big, changing direction against her is an adventure. When Jankovic steered her backhand down the line wide, Keys broke for a third time for 6-5 then served out the opening set at 30.
The 20-year-old Boca Raton resident broke for a 2-1 second-set lead, but Jankovic broke right back for 2-2.
Jankovic has fast hands and a knack for proper return positioning. A sharp-angled backhand return gave Jankovic a 0-30 lead as Keys served at 4-5. Hanging tough and forcing the bigger hitter to play back one more ball, Jankovic drew another error to break and take the second set.
Shrugging off the lapse, Keys tore through the first 10 points of the final set, breaking back to open the decider and consolidating for 2-0. She eventually extended the lead to 3-1.
The 2010 Indian Wells champion changed the match around in a grueling fifth game with a little help from her opponent. Keys dropped the racquet head bungling a point-black forehand volley then kicked the ball over net in disgust.
That miscue gave Jankovic life as she saved a break point in navigating an eight-minute game and holding for 2-3 to ignite her comeback.
"She crushes that ball, I could not hit it," Jankovic said of Keys. "I had to wait for my chances. I was just trying to stay tough out there [and] just take it one point at at time... I was able to hang in there and win them and after that I kind of got my confidence and momentum."
That game empowered the Serbian, who leaped out to triple break point in the next game. When Keys dumped a backhand into the middle of the net, Jankovic was back on serve. Jankovic slid a serve winner down the middle for 4-3—her first lead since 1-0.
Keys contributed mightily to her own demise, committing 64 unforced errors. She won just 45 percent of her first-serve points in the decider and often found the net trying to squeeze her backhand down the line.
"I had almost 70 unforced errors, so that was not good," Keys said. "JJ makes you hit a lot of balls and she got a lot of balls back and put some pressure on me."
Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport, Keys' coach, came out for the third time in the match and tried to rouse her charge.
"You've gotta be positive," said Davenport, who won four of her six meetings with Jankovic. "You knew it would be tough, you know she's a grinder and fighter."
On this day, Jankovic was a first-class closer, too.
Jankovic broke at love then held at love, blowing kisses toward the sky after wrapping up the comeback win. She will face 18-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic for a quarterfinal spot. Bencic beat Jankovic, 7-6 (6), 6-3, in their lone prior meeting in the 2014 U.S. Open round of 16.