Jankovic down, not out

Jelena Jankovic missed this shot, but she went all out to defeat Sofia Arvidsson in a match that stretched to 2 hours 44 minutes. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

NEW YORK - The lady was flat on her face on the pavement. Was this embarrassing with about 15,000 people watching?

"No, but I was worried about getting my dress really dirty," said Jelena Jankovic, a tourist from Serbia clad in a yellow tennis frock.

Had she been hit by a bus? Nothing that ordinary in the big city. Actually, she was running as though she were trying to catch a departing bus, chasing instead a nifty hit, a deft drop shot from the racket of a troublesome Swede named Sofia Arvidsson.

These two were engaged in a second-round jam of the US Open at Flushing Meadows, and the 24-year-old Arvidsson, though ranked No. 63, was giving No. 2 Jankovic a very hard time. Reaching desperately, vainly, for the ball, Jankovic tumbled. She was down. She stayed down. Seconds ticked by. Had the Swede provoked an Ingmar Bergmanesque scene of tense drama? More seconds slipped past, more than 30 of them. You expected umpire Dianna Kondratowitch-Pierce to climb down from her high chair and count Jankovic out. Was this prolific collector of injury withdrawals (11) and loser of midmatch TKOs (11) adding to her long string of mishaps?

Ah, no. The canny battler was just resting - "I was tired and couldn't get up" - thinking over her dire third-set situation. "I would like to take a nap. I was exhausted."

Meanwhile, Arvidsson burned, serving the eighth game.

It apparently was the flop that refreshes. Even though Arvidsson hung tough to 5-5, Jankovic pierced her in the last game for a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 victory. It took 2 hours 44 minutes on a gorgeous, balmy afternoon.

Jankovic said it ended just in time. "I was lucky. After I finished I went to jog a little on the treadmill. We do that to get all the lactic acid from your muscles and feel better. After three minutes, I cramped. Couldn't bend my leg. I couldn't have finished the match. The ideal is to run 10 minutes after a match that long."

Arvidsson has been difficult for her. "I was down, 1-5, in the third set to her at Key Biscayne," said Jankovic, "and saved five match points. Then I got to the final. Maybe this win was a good omen."

Arvidsson told Swedish journalists she wasn't too happy with Jankovic's performance.

Jankovic answered that with, "If she's angry at me for going down . . . these things happen in a match . . . we try our best to win the match. And a win is the most important thing."

A scrapper, Jankovic has a history of squelching match points. Knee and forearm problems have bothered her lately, but she says that's past, and she's whole, but has to get in better shape. "I hope I can get into the second week. It's mental as much as physical. It all needs work."

So here are the two belles of Belgrade peering at each other from the far ends of the draw - 20-year-old Ana Ivanovic at No. 1, 23-year-old Jankovic down low at No. 2 - yearning to advance to the final a week from Sunday. That would be a first: two Serbs in a major title bout.

For a week earlier this month, Jankovic was No. 1, then shoved aside by Ivanovic. "You know," Jankovic said, "I was No. 1 in the world. By doing that I achieved one huge goal in my career, in my life, and it's something amazing. I would love to come back to that position. But I need to lift my level. I'm trying real hard, but because I had so many injuries I had a tough time."

But a tougher time for the happy-go-lucky Jankovic was early in 2006. She was very unlucky, losing in first round after first round. Ten times. She was ready to pack it in and retreat to university.

Up stepped her No. 1 cheerleader, mother Snezana, lively, ebullient, urging her kid to smile (which she often does) in tight spots. "Try it a little longer," Snezana counseled. "Don't give up."

It worked, and her career turned around in a city of faith, Rome, with a quarterfinal performance at the Italian Open. She has since won it, in 2007 and '08.

Flat on her face, Jankovic was shutting out the world she lusts to conquer. Presently up and bright, she took the second steps to No. 1.

I don't know if her yellow dress got dirty. But there are dry cleaners.