Jankovic screens call, wins

Jelena Jankovic’s first match at the East West Bank Classic on Wednesday at the Home Depot Center did not go as planned, but it ended just as she would like – with a win.

Trailing, 5-4, with opponent Vania King serving for the first set, Jankovic was one call away from losing the set.

With King leading, 40-15, Jankovic’s shot was called out. Jankovic challenged and the replay showed that her shot had hit the line.

“It was tough and I was just hoping that the ball would go in,” she said. “I wanted to win that set so I didn’t have to play three sets.”

Jankovic went on to win the replayed point, then the game and the set. She then breezed through the second set to record a 7-5, 6-3 win.

She can only hope that the tournament as a whole mirrors her first match. A loss Wednesday would have spoiled Jankovic’s opportunity to take over the No. 1 spot in the world rankings. She trails fellow Serbian Ana Ivanovic by 145 points, and to displace Ivanovic at the top, she will need to win the tournament.

Jankovic says she is not thinking about that.

“I don’t really want to put pressure on myself and I just want to enjoy myself,” she said. “If it happens, it happens.”

Just because she tries not to think about it, though, does not mean she fails to grasp its potential significance for her career.

“As long as I make it one day it’s a great achievement,” Jankovic said. “It’s every player’s dream to become No. 1 and get in the history books. No one can take that away from you.”

Jankovic’s route to the title in Carson has potentially gotten easier with the withdrawals of several top players, including Wimbledon finalists Serena and Venus Williams.

However, two of the world’s top 10 players remain – Anna Chakvetadze, ranked eighth, and Dinara Safina, ranked ninth.

The third-seeded Chakvetadze, who chose not to compete for Russia in the Beijing Olympics, breezed through Tuesday’s second-round match against Marta Domachowska of Poland, winning, 6-1, 6-1.

The fourth-seeded Safina, her replacement on the Russian Olympic team, had it almost as easy Wednesday, defeating Peng Shuai of China, 6-2, 6-2.

Safina, sister of former U.S. Open champion Marat Safin, reached the top 10 in June after winning the German Open and advancing to the final of the French Open, both clay-court events. However, Safina said she did not have a preference between clay and hard court.

“You just have to be a little bit more aggressive than on clay court,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you play, which surface, you always have to just play your game.”

In other matches involving seeded players, No. 8 Victoria Azarenka beat Chan Yung-jan, 6-1, 6-3; No. 7 Patty Schnyder lost to Ai Sugiyama, 6-4, 7-5; and No. 5 Vera Zvonareva beat Jill Craybas, 6-4, 7-6 (2).