Sick Jovana shocks Keren to lift singles crown

Mumbai: An indisposed Jovana Jaksic of Serbia fought her way to the singles title of the USD 10,000 CCI-ITF women`s circuit on Saturday and was so dehydrated afterwards that she had to be taken to a nearby hospital and put on drips.

Seventh-seeded Jaksic, from Belgrade, overcame second seed Keren Schlomo of Israel in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) after taking a medical time out in the first set. She also vomitted on the Cricket Club of India court in the second. The 18-year-old Serbian girl was often sitting on her haunches to fight stomach cramps get her breath back after a rally, but hung on gamely to win the 1 hour, 41-minute final against her 24-year-old Israeli opponent. The victory for Jaksic, who had won 10,000 USD titles at Turkey and in her home country last year, made her richer by USD 1,568 and, as importantly, fetched her 12 WTA points ahead of her outing in next week`s USD 25,000 event at Bangalore. When she looked physically fit during the stop-start encounter, Jaksic looked the better player against her opponent, ranked 396th in the world, by hitting consistent winners on the forehand and also going for the lines boldly. Jaksic, ranked 507th, won the first set by breaking her rival`s serve in the 8th game and then holding her serve in the next after taking a time-out when she led 4-3. The second set saw the Serbian player in agony, but once she vomitted and got the much-needed period to recover as the court got cleaned up, she seemed to have got a second wind. Games went with serves till 6-all and in the tie-break it was Jaksic, who took a 5-3 lead and then led 6-4 to hold match-points. Schlomo saved the first, but had no answer, when the Serbian hit a screaming forehand down-the-line winner to close out the point and the match. Schlomo won USD 980 and 8 WTA points for her efforts. PTI