Jelena Jankovic had a pained expression etched on her face for much of her first-round match at the United States Open on Tuesday, a look that has become almost a part of her wardrobe this season. She was battling the heat, a rash of unforced errors and double-faults and the sinking feeling that she was terribly ill prepared for the final major tournament of the season.

It took three tough sets for Jankovic, the No. 4 seed, to outlast 18-year-old Simona Halep of Romania, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Halep, ranked 96th and playing her first Open, had a chance to win but was broken when serving for the set at 5-4 in the third.

Jankovic’s victory took 2 hours 19 minutes, which paled in comparison to the grueling men’s match that 16th-seeded Marcos Baghdatis and Arnaud Clement played. Clement’s 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory took 3:26, and the temperature on the court topped 110 degrees by the time it was over.

Baghdatis, from Cyprus, is known for losing tough five-setters, having lost the epic match to Andre Agassi in 2006 when he was undone by cramps.

Jankovic escaped an early exit despite looking lost for much of her match. A merry-go-round of injuries this summer left Jankovic with few matches under her belt, and the ones she has played since the French Open have not gone well. She retired from three tournaments, including Wimbledon, the emotions playing out on her face every time. When she suffers, spectators suffer with her.

Jankovic won the first set when she broke Halep in the final game, but she quickly dropped her first two service games of the second set to fall behind, 5-1. Her efforts to claw back were undone by errors and a faulty serve.

In the third set, Jankovic had two break points when she was up, 3-2, but she could not convert them. It seemed to swing the momentum to Halep for good. She was broken in the ninth game after a mis-hit forehand went long. Halep was serving for the match at 5-4. But Jankovic played some dominating points to break Halep’s serve and stay in the match. Halep then let her frustration show, swatting the court with her racket, slapping her thighs and finally bouncing her racket off the court when Jankovic held her serve to go ahead, 6-5.

Halep then all but disintegrated in the final game as Jankovic broke her serve at love to win the match.

Other early matches turned into struggles as well, with No. 11 Svetlana Kuznetsova needing three sets to beat Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. María José Martínez Sánchez, the 22nd seed, went three sets in a victory over American Jamie Hampton.

Jeremy Chardy of France ousted No. 24 Ernests Gulbis in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Jankovic’s match was only the latest chapter in her drama-filled year, something she is becoming known for since she tumbled from the No. 1 spot in the world in 2008.

Her problems this season began in the French Open. Despite reaching the semifinals, her best showing in a Grand Slam since reaching the final of the United States Open in 2008, she was routed, 6-1, 6-2, by Samantha Stosur in a match Jankovic said she simply never got moving in. She went to Wimbledon wearing a heavy wrap on her thigh and retired in her fourth-round match against Vera Zvonareva with what she said was a back injury. Before she pulled out, she was writhing on the court with a trainer working on her back.

In her next tournament, in Portoroz, Slovenia, Jankovic retired in her second-round match after injuring her ankle. Trying to come back from that, she lost in the first round in San Diego and in her second match in Cincinnati. In the Rogers Cup in Montreal, she dropped her second-round match to the qualifier Iveta Benesova. Jankovic had been the No. 1 seed and had a bye in the first round.

“I didn’t really feel like a top-five player out there,” Jankovic said after the match in Montreal. “I really wanted to play matches here and at the last tournament, but I didn’t do that and now I haven’t played many matches before the U.S. Open.”

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