It’s breaking news if either holds serve

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Would someone, anyone, please hold serve? It seemed like days before either woman did so in the latter stages of the 3-hour 9-minute marathon today between third-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and teenager Tamira Paszek of Austria, which Jankovic won, 2-6, 6-2, 12-10, saving three match points in the third set.

After Jankovic held to pull to 5-4 in the third, there were nine consecutive service breaks -- and a long injury timeout by Paszek for medical treatment -- before Jankovic accomplished the near impossible, holding to go ahead, 10-9.

Paszek then held to level it, 10-10. There would be one more hold by Jankovic before the match finally finished with one last service break and a joyous Jankovic dropped to her knees in relief. There were 21 breaks in all. The third set lasted 1:57.

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Add Paszek

A bit of trivia about the 17-year-old who reached the U.S. Open girls’ final in 2006: Her family background is something out of a United Nations handbook. Her father, Ariff Mohamed, was born in Tanzania, raised in Kenya and lives in Canada. Her mother, Francoise Paszek, was born in Chile and raised in Austria.

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Yank (not Jankovic) watch

It was nearly three first-round wins for the often-beleaguered U.S. men on Day 1, but Bobby Reynolds broke the spell, losing in five sets to Gilles Simon of France. Earlier, wild card Jesse Levine defeated Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina, 6-1, 7-5, 6-1, and Mardy Fish beat Boris Pashanski of Russia, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

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Tangled up in blue

The main show court, Rod Laver Arena, sort of resembles a blue aquarium, after the color (green to blue) and surface change (from Rebound Ace to the new Plexicushion). Well, in fact, Laver Arena was the site of swimming’s world championships last year, featuring the Roger Federer of swimming, Michael Phelps.

As for the top-seeded Federer, he may not have given the surface a ringing endorsement, but he does prefer the new color.

“The green was very much too green,” Federer said. “Especially when the lights were on, it’s a very strange place to pay, especially the night sessions sometimes.”

Then he was asked if the green seemed “unfriendly.”

“Not unfriendly, but the blue is more friendly,” Federer said.

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No mas, or CAS

WTA Tour Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Scott said that former No. 1 Martina Hingis, a three-time Australian Open champion, told him last week she would not be appealing her two-year suspension for a positive cocaine test.

The final level of the appeal process would have been to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

“She told me, no, she’s not going to,” Scott said during a morning meeting with The Times and three European reporters.

“She’s feeling frustrated and disappointed and spent a lot of money and she said she just wants to get on with her life.”

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Quote of the day

Serena Williams, naturally. She was asked whether other women on the tour might return after having babies, following the lead of Lindsay Davenport.

“When I see pregnant women walking, I’m like, ‘How do they walk?’ ” said Williams, above. “My back hurts looking at them.”

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