Second seed Jelena Jankovic was knocked out of the Wimbledon Championships on Monday by Tamarine Tanasugarn.
The Thai veteran defeated Jankovic, who was suffering with a knee injury, in the round of sixteen 6-3, 6-2.
Tanasugarn’s victory puts her in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in her fourteen-year career. This was her eleventh consecutive grass court win.
Jankovic’s upset is the latest in a surprising list of exits by top seeded players. No. 1 Ana Ivanovic was beaten by China’s Jie Zheng in the third round, and third seed Maria Sharapova was defeated by her countrywoman Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round.
All three women had a chance to finish Wimbledon as the No. 1 player in the world, but now the pressure rests on Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is the last player in the draw at Wimbledon with an opportunity to claim the top spot.
Tanasugarn will play Venus Williams in the quarterfinals, who beat Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
Wow! After all of my years of following tennis there has been one constant: Tamarine Tanasugarn. How amazing that she is the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time in her career! I say well deserved. I’m happy for her. I missed this match Aaress. Did Jelena’s injury play an important factor in this loss?
Sorry, Will, I only saw a little bit of this match. I was watching Venus and Alisa Kleybanova, so I can’t comment as to whether the injury played a part in the loss.
But, Jankovic’s post-match press conferences should be available soon and I’ll copy the link below once I see it.
From Jankovic’s comments, yes, the knee did play a big role in her loss today.
http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/interviews/2008-06-30/200806301214837084738.html
Someone somewhere really loves Ana Ivanovic. She gets to keep her number 1 ranking with Kuznetsova out. If there should be a comparison, it seems Svetlana is becoming a bit more of a Kim Clijsters than Jelena is. But, I still prefer Kim in that regard, she is a consistent hard worker.
It is nice to see the old guards showing the wannabes how to win at Wimbledon. But Zheng has become a dangerous one in the mix. If she keeps her game flat and sharp like she is, who knows, it could be the fairy tale run.
Kudos to Venus and Serena, they survived the graveyard shift that is champions playing on court 2. Ominous..
Jeez, Jankovic is so self-pity. I am happy that she lost cause i’m so sick of watching those injury timeouts while her opponent was upbeat. And i’m happy that Ana lost too. No more Serbs in the singles’ draw. The only reason why I may feel not good about it is because Ana will remain on top of the rankings, which she doesn’t deserve.