WTA Tour - Jankovic cruises in Stuttgart

Eurosport - Sun, 05 Oct 14:31:00 2008

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic celebrated her imminent return to the top of the world rankings with an easy 6-4 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova in the Stuttgart Grand Prix final.

TENNIS Jelena Jankovic Stuttgart - 0

Second seed Jankovic, who will replace Serena Williams as world number one on Monday, took advantage of regular errors from the unseeded Russian Petrova to clinch victory in 83 minutes.

Petrova, champion at the indoor hardcourt event in 2006, played aggressively but was never able to match the consistency of Jankovic, who took the first set thanks to a single break in the Russian's opening service game.

Petrova lost her serve early in the second, too. She broke back for 3-3 but a desperate backhand wide gave Jankovic the advantage straight back and she stormed through to win a second successive title after last week's victory in Beijing.

"That's two titles in two weeks and I'm back up to number one so obviously things are going pretty well for me now,"

Jankovic, who gets to choice between prize money of £55,000 or a Porsche car, said.

Petrova's afternoon was summed up by the final game.

Serving to stay in the match, she planted an easy volley about a metre long to go 0-15 down. She was then wrong-footed by a Jankovic backhand that flew past her for 0-30.

Petrova wafted a crosscourt forehand well long to give Jankovic three match points and handed over the first of them with an awful approach that hit the top of the net.

Jankovic had not had to do anything spectacular; just keep getting the ball back and wait for the inevitable error.

"I went for every single point and tried everything," Petrova said courtside. "I just made too many unforced errors and the key to playing Jelena is to be consistent."

Reuters

Comment 64 - 83 of 103

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  1. thanks for comment

    From vvagabond747, on Mon 6 Oct 7:26PM

  2. lana 17 the whole point is she

    From vvagabond747, on Mon 6 Oct 7:21PM

  3. Who lost, can complain. But you Americans, YOU ARE THE MOST ARROGANT NATION IN THE WORLD.

    Venus and JJ, they are the most powerful tennis player today, they have different tactics. JJ is defensive but can be little offensive. Personally I prefer how Venus plays, but at the moment JJ is better.

    From pzivic@..., on Mon 6 Oct 7:15PM

  4. jasnasto,
    proveri pre nego izvalis neku glupost- Venus je osvojila Wimbledon ove godine.
    Jelena: AO- semi-final
    RG- semi-final
    Wimb.- last 16
    US- final
    Find out who did it or more this year, except MAYBE Serena

    From Emilija Jana, on Mon 6 Oct 6:42PM

  5. Except Jankovic of course... I forgot to say that :D !

    From lana17g, on Mon 6 Oct 6:22PM

  6. How PATHETIC this @isabellet_is (comment 71) is. I am so glad she wont come back on this site, couse she don't know how to discuss. Well obviously she don't follow tennis much so she is embarrassment with her unknowing. But anyway yes, like @Bobito (comment 70) said, WTA do call 8 tier 1 tournaments as "major events" or Masters, and yes it's true read your WTA yearbook and see.

    Anyway I think Jelena is No 1 simply couse she had most victories then all other tennis players, after Justine pull out 1st spot was able to almost everyone from top 10 and currently Jelena is girl with most wins in all WTA. Like u said Tier 2 brings less, Tier 1 brings more and GS brings the highest pts, and since Jelena didn't won GS can u imagine how many other victories she has since she is today World No 1. U can't blame her for being in shape and winning so many players even if it's not GS. And she wins every time on every tournament girls from top 10, so I don't think noone deserves this spot at the time.

    From lana17g, on Mon 6 Oct 6:19PM

  7. @vvagabond747
    Yeah, but when did current No. 8 win one of these GS... none this year for sure...
    Plus, Jelena won against her at least twice this year, right?!

    From jasnasto, on Mon 6 Oct 6:01PM

  8. this way Pete Sampras should be world No. 2 ...

    From jojkooooo@..., on Mon 6 Oct 5:57PM

  9. @ALISON MERRITT
    The most pathethic is how pathethic you look like with the comments like that...

    From jasnasto, on Mon 6 Oct 5:57PM

  10. no such thing as a ''' MAJOR GRAND SLAM"" ``~~ such a stupid ignorant quip

    Grand Slam events earn higher ranking points & prize money

    NEXT "Major events" earn less points & money with Tier 2 events even less

    From vvagabond747, on Mon 6 Oct 5:56PM

  11. ranking system seems rather faulty to allocate
    position No 1 to a girl who has NEVER won any important tennis event

    and give No 8 rank to an Olympic medalist who holds numerous Grand Slam titles

    revision of the system is now long overdue darlings

    From vvagabond747, on Mon 6 Oct 5:52PM

  12. Milan B (comment 63) you stood up? really? thats the first i heard of it. because i gotta tell you from the outside it looked like you waved the white flag and surrendered. standing up means you engaged in battles with your enemy and curtailed their goals. which ofcourse we both no you did not do at all. i respect that you love your country but don't make up lies to make your self look better.

    From football4life, on Mon 6 Oct 5:48PM

  13. 4 comment 67, you are using MAJOR IN WRONG TERM. FOR MOST PEOPLE MAJORS ARE RELATED TO GRAND SLAMS OR MAJOR GOLF TOURNMENT LIKE TIGER WOODS WON 14 MAJOR GOLF TOURNMENTS AND ROGER FEDERER WON 13 MAJOR GRAND SLAM TOURMNMENTS AND PETE SAMPRASS WON 14 MAJOR GRAND SLAM TOURNMENTS ETC. FORGET ABOUT THE YEAR BOOK AND USE YOUR OWN COMMON SENSE HOW CAN YOU REFER TO TIER 1, TOURNMENTS AS MAJORS, NOT EVEN TENNIS PLAYERS SEE THESE TOURNMENTS AS MAJORS, ALBEIT IMPORTANT ONES. ANYYWAY I DON'T WANT TO GET INTO A SLAGGING MATCH WITH YOU SO I'M GOING TO SING OFF AND I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO READ YOUR RESPONSE I HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO!! THIS IS GETTING BORING!!

    From Isabelle T, on Mon 6 Oct 5:46PM

  14. Just to try and clear up this debate about what is a "major". When the word "major" is used as a noun as in "win a major" or "the 4 majors" it has always been taken to mean a Grand Slam. The term was borrowed from the 4 majors in golf. For example, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods have a much publicised friendly rivalry going to see who can win the most "majors". However, if you use the word as an adjective, as in "a major event" or "a major player" then it is less specific. If the WTA have called Tier 1 tournaments "major events" in their yearbook they have confused matters.

    From Bobito, on Mon 6 Oct 4:41PM

  15. I love Jelena and Venus. They are fantastic players. Jelena has 5-3 against Venus and JJ was the better in Stuttgart.

    From Vladan, on Mon 6 Oct 3:20PM

  16. BRAVO, JECO!
    Narode, zasto toliko energije trosite na belosvetske kretencine!?

    From Gordan, on Mon 6 Oct 3:09PM

  17. ISSABELLE 60 /// Like u said "Do your research before you comment!! " I suggest u the same thing because u seem to not know much about tennis. Go and read your WTA yearbook.
    4 Grand Slams (AO, RG, Wimbledon and US Open)
    8 Major Events ( Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Berlin, Rome, Montréal / Toronto, Tokyo, Moscow)

    From Night, on Mon 6 Oct 1:47PM

  18. ISSABELLE 60 ? 60 IS THE WRONG ONE ,,,,CAN'T READ

    From vvagabond747, on Mon 6 Oct 1:31PM

  19. issabelle 68? is totally incorrect
    Go and read your WTA yearbook

    From vvagabond747, on Mon 6 Oct 1:28PM

  20. yes they should both have been penalised & fined
    jelenars followers + mum with Vodka biottle incl

    From vvagabond747, on Mon 6 Oct 1:26PM
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