Bouchard beats Jankovic in 1st round of Italian Open

May 10, 2016

foxsports

ROME (AP) Eugenie Bouchard piled more misery on Jelena Jankovic by winning the first-round matchup of former top-10 players 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the Italian Open on Tuesday.

Jankovic won this clay-court tournament in 2007 and 2008, but has gone three months without reaching a quarterfinal.

Bouchard, the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up, slipped in the rankings last year but has rebounded with two finals this season.

''I knew it would be a tough battle,'' Bouchard said. ''I realized that she started controlling too many points, so in the third set I decided no matter what, even if I make a couple more mistakes, I need to step in and go for it. That made the difference.''

Bouchard next faces Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.

Later, Serena Williams met 51st-ranked Anna-Lena Friedsam.

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