In soaring temperatures at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Jankovic eventually prevailed 6-4 4-6 7-5 in two hours and 20 minutes, but only after world number 96 Halep had served for the match at 5-4 in the decider.Jankovic revealed afterwards she had not initially realised the severity of the situation.
''I was in some sort of zone, I thought it was 4-3 and then thought, 'Oh my God','' she said. ''It was unbelievable, I'm so happy to get through.
''First-round matches are never easy and today was really hard. It wasn't my best game, so I had to work hard to get through. It's really hot out there, I don't know how many degrees but it's really hot, especially on one side (of the court) with the sun in my face.
''It was tough, I was lucky to get through and to have another chance.''
Jankovic will face Croatia's Mirjana Lucic in the second round, the former Wimbledon semi-finalist who vanished off the tour due to personal and financial problems.
Lucic, who beat Australian Alicia Molik 7-6 6-1, turned professional in April 1997 at the age of 15 and promptly won her first tournament, and was still just 15 when she won the Australian Open doubles title in 1998 with Martina Hingis.
''I feel fantastic, I'm so happy,'' said Lucic, ranked 150th in the world. ''I worked so hard to get here, this is my first US Open since 2002.
''I don't want to go into the reasons about everything, it was just unfortunate why I haven't played. It wasn't because I was sick of tennis or anything like that. It was just a lot of unfortunate circumstances.
''My dream never died and never went away. I was just waiting for an opportunity. I have it and I've been living my dream the last couple of years. Every match I win now it's like winning an entire tournament.
''I was really lucky and blessed to be so good when I was so young. I grew up winning since I was six years old and it was always normal. But once that was taken away for years it's incredible; every match gives me such satisfaction.
''It's almost like walking blind for years and really struggling a lot to finally be free again and reminding myself of the old ways and how good I can play and that I can play with these girls and beat them.''
Elsewhere, former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova needed three sets to beat Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm, the 11th seed eventually winning 6-2 4-6 6-1.
3 comments:
A lot of players seem to be having a tough time in this tournament. I think there is going to be a lot of upsets in the next couple of rounds.
Three sets for Divapova and as you mentioned "Captain", as well as Kuznetsova and JJ. Speaking of JJ this hasn't been a good summer for her, tennis wise.
"The Self Proclaimed Princess" had a two, contested sets win in the first round.
I hope there are upsets, makes for more intresting tennis!
"Divapova" probably would have lost, had Groth not had her third set meltdown, I think with hard work and consistency Groth would be top 20 next year.
Speaking of upsets The one I hope for tomorrow is Stosur losing to Rodianova.
JJ sadly wont win, probably lose to Wickmayer in the 4th or Kaneppi in the 3rd!
Im not going for a player seeded out side op the top 20 will win (maybe like Kirilenk :P)
"The Self Proclaimed Princess" should ease past her 2nd round oppenent, especily with how she delt with her in Australia, and hey shes never lost to Kuznetsova so time will tell!
The way that JJ is playing she can lose earlier than that.
You could be right about Gorth.
"The Princess" has good shot to reach QF.
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