Sport - Tennis

Jankovic rallies to beat Dementieva

MOSCOW: World’s No. 1 and top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia battled back from a set down to reach the final of the Kremlin Cup, a joint ATP and WTA $2.4 million event, beating third seed Elena Dementieva of Russia on Saturday.

Jankovic, who is seeking her season’s fourth title and third in a row here, won 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 in one hour 44 minutes to record her sixth win over Dementieva in their ninth head-to-head meeting and set up a meeting with home hope Vera Zvonareva.

“I wasn’t playing bad in the first set, I was playing my game,” Jankovic said. “But Elena has answers for all of my shots. She was always on the ball. I couldn’t do anything. She was too good.

Beijing Olympic champion Dementieva, who was playing her WTA career’s 62nd semifinal, came into the match at full confidence, breaking her rival throughout the opening set to take it at love in 35 minutes.

The start of the second set was almost a mirror image of the first as this time the 23-year-old Serbian, who was playing her season’s 11th semifinal, looked in command, a pair of breaks taking her 4-0 clear.

A further break saw her level at one set all after one hour 10 minutes on court.

In the deciding set, this year’s U.S. Open finalist Jankovic underlined her domination in taking it at love to make her season’s sixth final berth.

In Sunday’s final Jankovic will face the seventh-seeded Zvonareva of Russia, who beat her compatriot Dinara Safina, the second seed, 6-2, 7-6(5) in one hour 31 minutes.

Zvonareva, 24, currently ninth in the world, looked in command from the start breaking twice in the opening set to take it in 32 minutes, while Safina experienced obvious problems with her first serve.

The second set went to a tiebreak, which Zvonareva won 7-5 to enter her sixth final of the season.

“I tried to perform my best tennis today,” Zvonareva said. “It was my first ever Kremlin Cup semifinal and I wasn’t under pressure and I really enjoyed playing here on Saturday.”

Sweden’s Robin Soderling could be looking for home advantage to go his way when he faces Argentina’s David Nalbandian in the final of the Stockholm Open here on Sunday. In their respective semifinals on Saturday the pair scored crushing victories, however Nalbandian goes into the final knowing he has beaten Soderling four times in their five encounters.

The Argentine top seed hammered two-time finalist Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-2, 6-1 while fourth seed Soderling needed just 44 minutes to dispatch talented Japanese teenager Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-0.

The results:

At Moscow: Kremlin Cup: Women: Semifinals: Jelena Jankovic bt Elena Dementieva 0-6, 6-1, 6-0; Vera Zvonareva bt Dinara Safina 6-2, 7-6(5). Quarterfinals: Jelena Jankovic bt Flavia Penetta 7-6(6), 6-3; Dinara Safina bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-5.

Men: Semifinals: Marat Safin bt Mischa Zverev (walkover); Igor Kunitsyn bt Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-3. Quarterfinals: Marat Safin bt Nikolay Davydenko 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4; Igor Kunitsyn bt Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-2.

At Stockholm: Stockholm Open: Semifinals: David Nalbandian bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 6-1; Robin Soderling bt Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-0. Quarterfinals: Robin Soderling bt Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 7-5; David Nalbandian bt Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-1.

At Vienna: Bank Austria Trophy: Semifinals: Gael Monfils bt Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(2). Quarterfinals: Philipp Petzschner bt Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-2; Feliciano Lopez bt Juergen Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Gael Monfils bt Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6(2); Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-3. — Agencies

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu