Jankovic Wins Epic Clash Against Bencic

After six one-sided affairs, the Centre Court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium witnessed a battle in which fortunes swung like a pendulum.
At one end of the court was an emerging Swiss star - Belinda Bencic - who last week became the first teenager since Caroline Wozniacki to break into the top 10 of the women's game.
And at the other end, it was the 30-year-old Jelena Jankovic, the former world number one and one who still hasn't given up hope on rediscovering her old form that once took her to the final at Roland Garros.

In the classic battle between the old and the new, both produced high quality tennis as some breathtaking rallies brought the crowd to their feet.
In the end it was the Serbian Jankovic who clinched the three-setter 4-6 7-5 6-4 to book a second round clash with German Andrea Petkovic at the Dubai Tennis Championships.   
In the first set though, the 18-year-old Bencic showed no signs of an indoor hangover - she reached the final at the St Petersburg indoor tournament last week - as she needed just one break of serve to win that set against Jankovic.
The Swiss seemed to be in total control of the match when she broke Jankovic again in the seventh game of the second set. But the Serb refused to wilt and broke her back in the next game to be back on serve.
Then there was an epic struggle for the Swiss youngster in the 12^th game to hold her serve to stay alive in the set. But she lost that dramatic battle as the experienced Jankovic showed her class and converted her sixth set point to take the match to a decider.
In third set, Jankovic was immense in the big points and eventually the younger opponent raised the white flag in the 10^th game with a meek return to the net to end the two and a half hours battle.
Earlier, Jankovic's compatriot Ana Ivanovic was in glorious form in the afternoon match as she thrashed Australian youngster Daria Gavrilova to set up a mouthwatering second round clash with defending champion and top seed Simona Halep of Romania.
The former French Open champion needed only 53 minutes to beat Gavrilova 6-1 6-0.
"I expected a very tough match because of the battle we had in Rome on clay," Ivanovic later told reporters at the post-match Press conference.
"I really tried to step it up today and be aggressive. Especially I feel the ball here sometimes flies little bit quicker through the air, so I tried to use that to my advantage. So I am very pleased overall."
Ivanovic was also pleased with the way she played those returns.
"Yeah, it was good today. She tried to mix up a few to my body.
"I still managed to run around them and strike them well. I think that made a big difference. "And also on my serve I really managed to get a little bit of a kicker, so it was getting out of reach for her."
In the first match on the centre court, 21-year-old Ukrainian Elina Svitolina outplayed Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-3 6-1.
Svitolina will take on Wimbledon runner up and world number five Garbine Muguruza in the next round on Wednesday.

Source: WTA Tennis