Analysis for Jankovic-Mauresmo (WTA Paris)

Head-to-head record 1:5

The last French hope Amelie Mauresmo will play Jelena Jankovic in Paris SF. Mauresmo is well known for her powerful one-handed backhand and her strong net play. She enjoys the fast conditions in Paris and looks to be in a great form even if she hasn’t opened the year in style. At the Brisbane International tournament, Mauresmo defeated Jelena Dokic in the first round before defeating French compatriot Julie Coin in the second round. The fifth-seeded Mauresmo then upset top-seeded Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals, before retiring in her semifinal match against the third-seeded Frenchwoman, Marion Bartoli, whilst trailing 0-4 in the first set. At the Australian Open, Mauresmo lost in the third round to Victoria Azarenka. Then she struggled during the Fed Cup in France losing both of her matches but in Paris, she has been showing fantastic tennis so far beating Errani, Niculescu and Radwanska all in straight sets and not losing more than 3 games in a match. Her play in front of the home crowd is simply stellar and we probably haven´t seen such brilliant run since Justine Henin retired. We thought that Mauresmo career is nearly over but now it seems we were wrong. She is still competitive and we are curious if she manages to keep on demolishing against the seeded No.2 Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic is, on the contrary, not playing well at all. She played Schiavone, Na Li and Cornet and defeated them all in 3 sets. Jankovic was seeded first at the Australian Open in Melbourne, defeating Yvonne Meusburger in the first round. Jankovic then beat Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in the second round and Ai Sugiyama in the third round. Sixteenth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France then upset Jankovic in the fourth round 6–1, 6–4. Jankovic is often regarded in women's tennis for her great defensive abilities and footwork, which classifies her as a counterpuncher. Jelena is known for being able to slide on all surfaces, further enhancing her defense. Jankovic has very consistent ground strokes and likes to go down the line more often than crosscourt. Her signature shot is her two-handed backhand down the line; she hits it with excellent pace and can drive it deep for an outright winner however her crosscourt backhand is also very effective. Jelena has now begun to hit both her forehand and backhand with more pace than in the past and is starting to use short heavily angled shots more prominently. She also has a decent net game, being able to hit effective drive, drop and swinging volleys. Her main weakness is the fact her serve is very attackable. She likes to spin it in on the first and second serve which can lead to her getting broken many times in matches against good baseline players. We expect Jankovic to have problems on serve again and Mauresmo definitely has her chance. Odds above 2.2 are good enough for us.