Great effort by Mara: the world nO. 9 defeated

We saw at once that she was full of energy and confidence. As good as her promise, in spite of forecasts which were not in her favour, Mara Santangelo of Trentino fought and won a desperate battle with number 7 of the series, number 9 in world ranking, Jelena Jankovic, in the match of the third round of the "Sony Ericsson Open" in Miami.

The Italian player gave evidence of quite extraordinary strength of will against one of the most highly rated tennis players on the circuit and at the most prestigious tournament of the American tour, traditionally considered the “5th slam” of the season. 

Having gone under by 6-2 5-2, the Italian world champion overturned the faltering game and got the better of her Serbian adversary with a performance which combined heart and technique: after gaining parity with the second set, closed with 7 points to 3 in the tiebreak, Mara completed her masterwork with a decisive 6-4 after obtaining 3 match balls out of 3 to 5 and service to the rival, thereby closing accounts after two match balls of the tenth game.

Now in the eighth-finals of the prestigious Key Biscayne tournament the Italian will have to meet the Russian player Anna Chakvetadze, seeded number 9. There have been no previous matches in official tournaments between Mara and the twenty-year-old Russian (no. 11 in the ranking and with two WTA titles to her credit).

Mara is in great form and in the doubles, too, alongside the Australian Stewart, she passed to the next round, beating the couple formed of the other Italian, Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko from Argentina by 6-1 7-5.