DUVAL NEXT

Jelena Jankovic will play against Victoria Duval of USA in the second round of the Sony Open on Friday. That will be her opening match in the tournament as she has been given a bye in the first round.

In this season, Jankovic’s performance hasn’t been great so far. She has participated in four tournaments in this season and in three of them, her performance was not up to the mark.

The first tournament in which Jankovic took part this year was Apia International Sydney Tennis Tournament. She got knocked out from the second round of that tournament.

Australian Open was the next tournament for Jankovic. Her performance was below par in that tournament as well. She only managed to reach the third round where she was defeated by her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic.

After performing poorly in her first couple of tournaments in the season, Jankovic came back in her next tournament i.e. WTA Bogota Open tennis championship. She went on to win that competition by securing win over Paula Ormaechea of Argentina. That was the 13^th title won by Jankovic in her career.

Jankovic couldn’t maintain her form in the BNP Paribas Open and got defeated in the second round there.

Duval who will be Jankovic’s opponent on Friday is currently at no. 376 in the official rakings of WTA. She is only 17 years of age and she has not faced too many quality players in her career so far. So, the match against Jankovic will be a huge challenge for her.

When asked if she is excited about Friday’s clash against Jankovic, Duval said, “Yes, off course. I have nothing to lose. I will just go out on the court and enjoy my game.”

“Jelena has been around for more than 10 years now. She has got a whole lot of experience and to face her will be a very hard task for a youngster like me. I am just hoping for the best.”