TENNIS in DEPTH.

An exhausted Jelena Dokic rallied from a break down in the third set to win 7-5, 5-7, 8-6 against Russian youngster Alisa Kleybonova. It was a match filled with drama from the opening serve, and the crowd who didn’t know quite what to expect from their new ‘hero’ wasted no time in trying to rally Jelena into defeating yet another top ranked player. Kleybonova is a strong young player with devasting cross court shots on both sides. She repeatedly forced Dokic into making errors, it was evident that Dokic was having difficulty in reading Kleybonova’s shots and guaging the pace of the ball. At 6-6 in the third Dokic rolled her ankle while trying to reach a hard hit ball to her backhand side, and the crowd was hushed as they had visions of Jelana being forced to retire. After some minor treatment she brushed herself off, and proceeded to win the next two games.

She now moves on to face Dinara Safina in the quarters, and whether she wins or loses, she will have put her stamp on the 2009 Aussie Open and she will also rise in the rankings into the top 100!

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