Serbian world number one Jelena Jankovic overcame a mid-match lapse to move through to the last 16 of the women's singles with a 7-5, 6-1 second round win over Alona Bondarenko from Ukraine at the Olympic Green Tennis Center on Tuesday.
Earlier, fellow Serb and third seed Novak Djokovic also cruised into the third round in men's singles after posting a 6-4, 6-2 win over German Rainer Schuettler.
Jankovic made hard work of winning a scrappy first set as she appeared to be well in control while leading 4-1, but an inexplicable loss of form saw her lose the next 10 points to let her opponent back into the contest.
Bondarenko broke Jankovic's service twice to level things at 5-5, but the 23-year-old Serb got back on track to break her opponent once more to win the final two games of the set. The two committed 50 unforced errors in the first set.
Jankovic began to produce more consistent play, reeling off five straight games to take the match after three successive breaks of serve.
"I think I found the right tactic. In the first set, I was a little bit struggling. I was playing quite aggressive, hitting the ball quite clean, but then I lost my concentration and the focus and started making all these errors," Jankovic said. "I let my opponent come back into the match, but as soon as we started the second set, I kind of knew what I need to do."
After compatriot and top seed Ana Ivanovic pulled out of the tournament due to a hand injury, Jankovic has been promoted to be one of the favorites for the gold medal.
Jankovic has just replaced Ivanovic, who had held No. 1 for nine weeks from June 9 to August 10. Ivanovic was the first player representing Serbia to become No. 1, with Jankovic now following right behind.
The two are projected to be in close competition the next few weeks for the top ranking, with eight points separating them.
"It feels great to be No. 1 in the world. At the moment I'm still not aware of that and it's a huge achievement. Not many people have achieved that."
"I'm the 18th player in the tennis history to come to the No. 1 spot. I will remember this for the rest of my life.
"When I get older, I can tell my kids I was the No. 1 player in the world. So I'm really proud of that. And I hope to represent this in the best possible light.
"At the moment, I'm not in the best form. I'm struggling with a lot of injuries, but hopefully I will get back in form."
Her reward will be a meeting against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, seeded No. 16.
Djokovic, who won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, was able to control the 73-minute match except for when Schuettler recouped a service break in the third game of the opening set. That was the only service break opportunity the German had in the match.
Overall, Djokovic had 11 opportunities to break serve and he converted four of them.
Djokovic will in the third round play Russian 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny, who beat 2002 Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson of Sweden 7-5, 6-2.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)