Caroline Wozniacki stretched suddenly to her right, with the speed of a quick-footed commuter squeezing onto a crowded train before the doors slam shut. The world No. 1 flicked a forehand volley over the net, watched wide-eyed as Jelena Jankovic netted a reply and concluded a break-filled final set cracking the wide smile of a winner.
It was rush hour in Rome today, and Wozniacki stayed one step ahead of Jankovic to eke out a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory that sent the top seed into her first Italian Open semifinal. It was Wozniacki’s third straight win over Jankovic this season; the fifth-seeded Serbian had won their first four meetings.
A baseline battle between the current and former top-ranked player featured a final set of shaky serves and nerves. The pair combined for eight straight service breaks at one stretch, finishing with 26 break points and 13 breaks between them.
Having said that, Wozniacki won 14 of 18 points played on her first serve in the first set and didn’t face a break point. She whipped an inside-out forehand return winner to seal it in 52 minutes on the strength of her second break. Shrugging that sluggish start off, Jankovic began to work the width of the court, using her down-the-line backhand and inside-out forehand to force the blonde Dane to dash sideline to sideline. Jankovic broke serve three times and surrendered just a single point on hers in cruising through the second set in 36 minutes.
There are many stylistic similarities between the two women: Both are fast and fluid around the court, seldom give up on shots, rely on the backhand up the line as their kill shot and take cracks at second serve returns. Neither bring Brenda Schultz-McCarthy-type heat on their serves, either. That combination created a perfect storm for some sizzling, running rallies and tenuous service games as the tension escalated in the final set.
Serving at 3-2, Wozniacki went up 40-0 but misjudged her positioning and was nearly in the doubles alley when she flattened a forehand swing volley into the net on a ball that was certain to stray wide. That decision spurred Jankovic, who eventually broke back with a cross-court backhand for 3-all.
Wozniacki responded in the next game, closing the net behind a swing volley, then blocking a backhand volley that eluded Jankovic to earn double break point. A stinging serve up the T elicited a mid-court sitter reply, but an over-anxious Jankovic banged an overhead well wide to surrender serve and fall into a 3-4 hole. Wozniacki held at 15 to snap a streak of eight straight breaks before her full-stretch forehand volley ended a two hour, 23-minute encounter in which Jankovic actually won more points (91 to 90).
It wasn’t pretty, but Wozniacki’s survival skills helped her subdue the two-time Rome champ and reach her seventh semifinal in 10 tournaments this season. Next up for Wozniacki is either Victoria Azarenka or Maria Sharapova, both of whom have beaten her in Rome before.
—Richard Pagliaro