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Jankovic toppled by Tanasugarn
Monday, 30 June 2008
Written by Barry Newcombe

Second seed Jelena Jankovic was given a short, sharp shock as she was knocked out in the fourth round by unseeded Wimbledon veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

With so many seeds falling by the wayside in the first week, Jankovic went on to court knowing that she would rarely have a better chance to break her Grand Slam title duck and in the process move to the top of the world rankings.

But those dreams were dashed by a woman who, despite being ranked just 60 in the world, has become a permanent fixture in Wimbledon's fourth round. Tanasugarn has reached this stage seven times in 11 years, but never before had she progressed any further.

For Jankovic, defeat was short - just 75 minutes - and painful. Two days ago she had struggled through her Centre Court match against the Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki in three sets and had extensive treatment on her left knee. Today, on the crowded cockpit of Court 18, the Serbian came to the court with her knee strapped and she needed more treatment in the latter stages of the match.

But her injury did not seem to hamper her early on and it was only in the sixth game that she started to come under pressure.

Trailing 3-2, Jankovic saved two break points before Tanasugarn's counter-attack gave her a 4-2 lead when the Serb missed a forehand.

Tanasugarn kept the lead to run out the set in 36 minutes. As her forehand winner ended the set Jankovic slipped over behind the baseline.

Jankovic slipped further, too, on the scoreboard when she lost serve at the start of the second set and she called the trainer to the court at the first opportunity two games later for attention to her knee. A second trainer attended to Tanasugarn at the same time, treating a back injury.
But medical interventions over, the rhythm of the match remained unchanged. Jankovic dropped serve to fall 4-1 behind and broke Tanasugarn for the only time in the next game.

But an awesome forehand which landed right on the junction of the baseline and tramlines gave the Thai another break and the chance to serve for the match. She did so successfully and was in tears as she celebrated reaching her first quarter-final after trying every year since her debut in 1998.