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Jelena Jankovic secured her passage into the second round of the French Open today with a rain-affected 6-2, 6-3 victory over Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic.
The No5 seed's greater consistency from the baseline ultimately decided a competitive encounter as she looks to claim her first Grand Slam title.
And Jankovic, who lost to eventual champion Ana Ivanovic in last year's semi-final, admits she is easing her way into things in Paris.
“I'm trying to improve my game, trying to get in my top form and make these little baby steps forward,” she said. “This is my goal for this moment, and especially for this tournament.
“I just want to go one match at a time and try my best, give my maximum every match, every point. And I will see how everything will go for me.”
Cetkovska, ranked No85 in the world, is a talented but erratic operator and Jankovic had to be at something approaching her best to set up a second round meeting with Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
Although Cetkovska has failed to win a main Tour event, she reached the fourth round at Roland Garros 12 months ago and is comfortable on the Bois de Boulogne having resided in Paris for the last five years.
Jankovic's superior power from the back of the court began to tell early on and in the fourth game, Cetkovska dropped her serve for the first time. Two rifled backhands from the world No5 created a pair of break points but and an errant smash from her opponent that gifted Jankovic the advantage.
As drizzle swirled around Court Philippe Chatrier, the 24-year-old struggled to grasp the nettle but Cetkovska wasted two opportunities to restore parity before a the weather tightened its grip and a rain delay became inevitable.
More than two hours later, the match resumed at 4-1 and Cetkovska appeared to have taken the opportunity during the intervening period to re-focus as the pair both held their delivery in two strongly contested games.
However, the errors soon returned and successive double faults in the eighth game before a wild forehand struck long-handed Jankovic the first set with 35 minutes on the clock.
The Serbian quickly assumed control of the second set with a break at the first opportunity but such was the danger posed at the other end — particularly from a versatile two-handed backhand — that Cetkovska battled back to square the set at 2-2.
No sooner had she hauled herself into contention than more errors contrived to hand Jankovic what would surely prove the decisive advantage at 4-2.
Yet back she came once more to put the match on serve only to be broken again to allow Jankovic to serve for the match at 5-3. She survived two break points before securing the match at the second time of asking.
It was apt that victory was secured after a Cetkovska error on the forehand side as it was that wing that undermined her attempts to pull off an unlikely victory throughout.
“I was controlling points and was finishing a lot of the points at the net as well,” said Jankovic. “Then I had to stop because of the rain. It's not really easy to come back. I felt a little bit slow after the rain delay. But I managed to finish the job in two sets so I'm happy to get through.”
Of course, whether Jankovic can mount a serious title challenge remains to be seen. She has not failed to reach at least the fourth round in the last 11 Grand Slams and has form on clay this year, having won on the red stuff in Marbella last month.
Marion Bartoli, the No13 seed who defeated French compatriot Pauline Parmentier in three sets yesterday, lies in her section of the draw, as does Elena Dementieva and further ahead, a possible semi-final against Serena Williams.
Elsewhere No7 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia eased past French wildcard Claire Feuerstein 6-1, 6-4 while Slovak Rybarikova beat France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 2-6, 8-6.
