Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic cruised past French teenage qualifier Alize Cornet 6-2 6-2 to retain her Italian Open title.

The match got off to a scrappy start and Jankovic found herself 5-1 up largely thanks to a lower error count.

The 18-year-old Cornet pulled a break back with the help of a netcord winner that almost smacked into Jankovic's head.

The Frenchwoman failed to hold her serve in the following game, however, and conceded the first set by hitting a forehand into the net.

Cornet, who beat Russian sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze and her third-seeded compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the final, burst into tears at 4-1 down in the second set while the Serbian took a pause to have treatment on her right shoulder.

Cornet held her next service game and then earned three break points on Jankovic's serve but the champion saved them all and went on to break again to claim her sixth WTA Tour title and her first of 2008.

Reuters