Maria Kirilenko upsets Jelena Jankovic and earns a dog.

Kim Clijsters is now happily married and pregnant but last year she was here at the Acura Classic attending a puppy auction. She bid $11,000 for a black Labrador puppy then immediately gave it to a woman whose black Lab had recently died. I’m getting teary eyed just telling the story. I’m like that.

There’s another puppy auction today and Maria Kirilenko noticed the puppy as she was preparing for her match with Jelena Jankovic because she’s mad for a dog herself. In fact, she wants a Labrador Retriever puppy. Her coach is no dummy so he told her he’d get her a dog if she beat Jankovic.

Those psychological tricks work. Kirilenko pulled off the upset of the tournament by beating a slightly under the weather Jankovic, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5.

I was trying to rid my computer of a nasty virus when I noticed that Kirilenko had gone up 3-1 in the first set. I snatched up my notebook and rushed over to the stadium. Kirilenko fought through a bunch of deuces to hold her serve just as I got to the court and then she broke Jankovic again to win the first set easily.

Jankovic started to get hot in the fifth game of the second set and she broke Kirilenko twice to take the second set. At the time I thought the match was over. I figured Kirilenko was one of those lower ranked players who win one set off a top ten player then proceed to crumble.

Not only was I wrong, but now I’m scratching my head. Kirilenko was ranked number 21 this time last year and she’s got a top twenty game so what is she doing down at number 44? She’s got a hard, flat backhand, she’s an excellent defensive player and she actually attacks the net.

A member of the media dropped down a few rows and had a conversation with Richard Williams, Venus and Serena’s father and coach. Williams, by the way, had a dog day too. He took Venus’s puppy to the vet because the dog has an ear infection. Anyway, Williams said the women don’t know how to play the game today. When an opponent hits a short ball, they’re supposed to get their butt to the net.

Generally I’d agree with him but Kirilenko got to the net plenty. She broke Jankovic to go up 3-2 and kept up the pressure. As aggressive as Kirilenko was, though, there was a dichotomy in her game. She mishit an overhead early in the third set and from then on, she let Jankovic drive her back to the baseline by letting lobs bounce instead of taking them on the fly.

She let two lobs bounce on one point in the sixth game and she passed up another overhead in the next game and failed to take advantage of three break points. Jankovic broke her when she served for the set at 5-4 and I thought Kirilenko had lost her chance.

Jankovic has a cold which explains her slow start and could well explain the ending. After the match she said “I was struggling the whole match. The chances were there but I didn’t do the right things.” Kirilenko broke her in the next game then Jankovic missed a sitter at the net and Kirilenko finally had her upset.

Kirilenko has lost in the first round in nine tournaments this year. She’s not injured so I assume it’s a problem with confidence because it’s certainly not a problem with her game.

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