Where do I start with this one?! Simona Halep defeated Jelena Jankovic in the 2015 BNP Paribas Open final to win her biggest career title with a 2-6 7-5 6-4 victory in two hours and 37 minutes. This was absolute rollercoaster of a match; the quality wasn’t there, but it was strangely addictive and compelling viewing throughout much of the second and third sets. It had all started swimmingly for Jankovic, who won the first set, 6-2. Her backhand down-the-line was magical and she came out with an aggressive and confident mindset. Halep hadn’t played since Wednesday and I really think that it went against her as she was sluggish out of the blocks.
I expected Halep to pick it up, but she continued to struggle early on. She was leaking errors, particularly on her backhand side which is normally so solid. Jankovic was playing a smart match. She was the queen of the overheads and I don’t think she missed one. She also kept looping up the ball on Halep’s backhand side, which proved to be a very effective tactic. Marion Bartoli, who was on the commentary for TennisTV, made a good point that this is a tactic many players may look to exploit in the future. Bartoli was GOLD on the commentary. She’s definitely improved since last year when she used to talk through the majority of points. She still does it a lot, but everything she says is relevant and very insightful. Something tells me she’s not a fan of JJ…
The end of the second set was a beautiful mess. The quality fell off a cliff, but it was gripping with seven breaks of serve. Jankovic broke at 4-4 and decided to call her coach on the changeover… that proved to be not the best decision! Jankovic’s attempt to serve out the match was painful to say the least. Her aggressive and clear tactics were swept aside by some very tentative and passive play. Jankovic was waiting for Halep to commit errors and the world number three player really dug in her heels. She wasn’t playing her best, but she fought hard to stay in it. In the last game of the set there were a couple of great rallies and Halep played her best tennis of the match to force a decider.
The final set was another breakfest with seven more breaks of serve and lashings of drama. The umpire, Juan Zhang called a double fault on Jelena down break point when it was just a first serve… I was in fits of laughter. The umpire also had to warn Jelena about her language. Halep seemed to be struggling with an injury, but the adrenaline (and quite a lot of help from Jelena) seemed to pull her through. She wasn’t able to serve out the match, but broke in the next game to seal the title in Indian Wells. The stats were ugly with Halep hitting 22 winners to 47 unforced errors and Jankovic hitting 26 winners to 61 unforced errors. All five matches that Halep and Jankovic have played have gone three sets and it’s a match-up i’m excited to see again with, hopefully, both playing solid and consistent tennis.
Peak Jelena was in action today. Going through my screenshots was a hoot…
I think it’s almost certain that Halep will pull out of Miami. She’s had a really great start to the year, losing just the one WTA match at the Australian Open to Ekaterina Makarova. Winning a match like this, nowhere near her best, will give her a huge amount of confidence going forward. The clay court season is just around the corner…
The Simona fans really got behind her in the opening poll, which was the most popular poll on Moo’s Tennis Blog by about 500 votes lol… you were all right haha! I really appreciate the support and hope everyone will keep following Moo’s Tennis Blog as we approach my favourite stage of the season! I wish I had more time to focus on ATP, but my current feeling is that it’s better to invest fully on the WTA rather than do a bit on both and do neither justice. Miami starts in a couple of days. Are you keeping up? I’m struggling… 😉
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Jankovic was the better player from what I managed to see, surprisingly, she just couldn’t get the job done.
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Yes i’d agree, Jankovic was the better player. She got very tight trying to close it out and then lost the plot a bit. Credit to Halep though for staying in it and fighting back.
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James! I see you’re leading the Tiger Tennis Predictions! Looks like someone will be getting a new phone!
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Are you sure? Last time I checked it I wasn’t doing very well!
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Unbelievable. What was Jankovic’s game plan in that 5th game. She was up 1 game 5 to 4 (JJ’s advantage). It was her serve (JJ’s advantage). And Halap was still playing pretty “shaky” tennis (JJ’s advtange). I’ve never seen such a weak finisher. Instead of coming out strong she’s passive. She hits some weak returns, loses some pretty long rallies and before you know she’s lost the set.
Instead of winning in 2 sets she loses in 3 sets.
Good job on feeding Halap’s massive ego.
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What you have to remember is that Jankovic isn’t usually an aggressive player. When you get nervous, you get tight and coaches tell players to go for bigger margins. It was her shot selection that let her down, not her being ‘passive’.
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Maybe “passive” wasn’t the best word to use.
I just felt like the returns were coming back to Halep slower than usual. And instead of trying to win the point she was just trying to keep the ball in to play and wait for Halep to slip up.
Playing “safe” and ended up being “sorry” because of it.
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I disagree. I think she lost because she couldn’t keep her emotions in check. Halep WAS leaking errors and playing defensively could have gotten her the win in the end. But instead of frustrating Simona she became frustrated herself.
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Vitalia … “Halep’s massive ego”?!?!?!? LOL, you must be thinking of another WTA player entirely because it is pretty much universally accepted that Simona is a very modest and humble person.
Congrats to Simona on her 11th and biggest title so far! Terrific year for her so far (even given the disappointment of the Aussie Open QF). She’s shown she’s a “Fighter Girl” again! And those 737 people in the poll weren’t wrong after all, 🙂
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Looks like someone else on this tennis reply page had the EGO issue , cough cough…. Congrats Halep!!
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Has the EGO issue i should say.. Simona had to play throiugh a lot that day. It was just not firing on all cylinders for her on that day(it happens to all).. Also she had to deal with a lot of previous crap prior to this mach and tourney. Say what you wil, but a good sport would say congrats to Halep on the win as both were having a pretty week day and Halep just happened to navigate the road map better and bring that trophy back to her home… Bitter much…Ha…
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Perhaps seeing this match has frustrated Serena a bit. Maybe she could have won against Halep despite her injury. Considering her statement that she has playied with that injury all along the tournament.
Now they could meet up in Miami for the semis again. Albeit Serena has a pretty easy quarter, for Halep doesn’t seem like she will make it to the semis. Giorgi, then Jankovic/Penetta, then Safarova/Keys/Bouchard.
Add the fatigue from this tournament and the prospects from Halep become almost impossible.
I strongly believe that at some point she will walk out. I hope before getting KO from Giorgi. 🙂
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Hilarious match for various reasons.
Halep managed to win despite being way off on her ground strokes in this match. Jankovic really choked and blew what could be her last opportunity at a big title.
I hope the fake MTO is not a tactic to use after losing her first set. It happened in both matches (Lepchenko and JJ). I hope she can play Miami and not using this MTO to withdraw from Miami to avoid potential defeat.
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I disagree. I think Jelena dictated Simona in the first set and first 1/2 of the second not because Simona was doing badly. Jelena just choked big time to lose the match.
I used to really like Simona. But now she’s just another screamer, Egads girl, turn it down plus she has those annoying chanting fans every match now. gotta root against her from now on. Furthermore, Jelena has exposed her games in this final. Clearly, the WTA young girls will study how to beat her. She better pray for easy draw in Miami (most likely she will skip) or any future tournaments if she wants to win again.
P/S: Sudut nice catching up (and the beer 🙂 ) in Fed’s final though he lost.
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So, Sudut, you ignored my last post about Simona not being the kind of player who takes MTOs. She has had blisters on her feet this week (maybe due to the heat in the Californian desert?) Please stop being such a whiner when she wins.
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* fake MTOs I meant
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James you see, you had the lucky poll,most of your poll voters predicted right 😊
I’m glad that Simona won although as herself mentioned didn’t play her best tennis.I think it takes a champ mentality to turn around a match(from match point) even if you make a lot of mistakes and I ‘m glad to see this in Simona.Hope her serve will improve and she will receive more confidence to handle nerves better. If she plays Miami she could meet JJ and Serena.That would be something! 🙂
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Halep ONLY won because Williams ducked out though, let’s not kid ourselves now.
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I would have loved to see them play but unfortunatelly did not happen. Taken into consideration your replay I will not ever say that regarding whom is playing.In tennis you just never know, IW was a good example of how many surprises can happen.For me Simona earned her title, she fought in each match and deserves it! Waiting now for official stats from both Serena &Simona and let’s hope will meet @miamiopen. I’m sure Simona is aware that for beeing the best she must win with the bests! Thanks for the reply and have a nice day!
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I agree that Halep deserved her title. In fact the way she gritted her way through was very much how Serena plays when she isn’t her best.
But I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Simona never beats Serena ever again. She doesn’t take beatings like the one she got in Singapore lightly and once she views you as a real threat you’re lucky to wrestle a set off her. Just look at her records against Sharapova, Na, Azarenka, Jankovic, Ivanovic, Wozniacki, Radwanska and Mauresmo. Alize Cornet is the only anomoly, but then I doubt Serena even now sees her as a real threat.
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Dear Andrew, you’re just a litlle biased with Halep. I’ve heard Serena has refused to let her examined by the WTA medical team. I understand that they should somehow certify the walkovers caused by injuries that occur amid tournaments.
What do I learn here? That the good people of IW where once again misleaded. And Serena withdrew fearing a defeat from Halep.
All what you say is just bias nicely put.
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And anybody who isn’t a raving Halep fanatic would say you are biased in your comments. Halep’s game style doesn’t stand up to a healthy Williams. That’s where this argument begins and ends. Sorry.
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Dear Andrew, I just wanted to say that if Serena continues to avoid Halep than it’s OK to say the H2H will stay as it is…And Halep will never beat Serena again. 🙂
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And Halep will never be #1 if she pulls out of every other tournament due to ‘injury’. You could argue that Simona is the one avoiding the other top players. She needs to make the most of the next couple of months because she’s at a massive disadvantage over the second half of the tennis calender due to the court speeds.
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JJ choked and costed punters millions of euros..on the other had those who had put on Halep were all smiling.The real indication came when JJ said to her coach that she was really nervous and can’t put a first serve, that was 5-4 and she has to hold the serve to win , real heck of the odds were there for Halep around 8-10 something. That is why WTA is much more favourite but the underline is don’t trade unless you are watching it live.Its playing with fire if you do it.
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