Jankovic Remembers Former No. 1 Days, Beating Safina for Cincinnati Title

August 16th, 2009

Jankovic Remembers Former No. 1 Days, Beating Safina for Cincinnati Title

by Staff

Jelena Jankovic broke out of a funk on Sunday in Cincinnati, upsetting world No. 1 Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 to win the Cincinnati Open title.

The former No. 1, seeded fifth at the event, was gifted a number of unforced errors by Safina, and looked the fresher even after a two-hour, 46-minute win over Elena Dementieva in the semifinals.

Jankovic led 6-4, 3-0 before Safina broke back, but the Serb won three straight games to clinch the title.

It was the second title of the year for Jankovic after Marbella.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in this sort of final,” she said. “I’m so thrilled to play this kind of match and beat the number one player in the world.”

It was a difficult week for the “US Open Series” of events for Americans. The Cincinnati women’s final was an all-European affair, while Scot Andy Murray beat Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in the men’s Montreal final.

Also Check Out:
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This entry was posted on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 6:50 pm and is filed under Tennis.
Tags: Cincinnati, Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, WTA

5 Comments for “Jankovic Remembers Former No. 1 Days, Beating Safina for Cincinnati Title”

vared Says:

Wow. JJ pulled it off against Safina. LOL

Posted August 16th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

Veno Says:

I saw the second set…Safina crumbled mentally again….Desperation in her eyes, looking beggingly at her coach(who came on court at 0-3 in the second to coach her)

Insane how bad the women’s Cincy tourney was…unbelievably bad level of tennis….especially compared to te men’s Rogers Masters

Posted August 17th, 2009 at 10:32 am

Kimmi Says:

Williams sisters crumbled in Stanford, they crumbled again in Cincy and now trying to get matches in Toronto. Are we looking at the new winner in the US Open ? maybe too early to say. Good opportunity for Safina here, no one seem to be looking sharp yet…

Posted August 17th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

gordon Says:

To Veno, so you watched one set and you can rate the whole tournament? I find the match extreamly exiting with Jankovic control of the court.

Posted August 18th, 2009 at 2:24 am

Veno Says:

Hahahaha, Gordon, that’s fine you enjoyed it. Point is that it was a very bad match(not only visible in the stats) Safina looked like a scared junior rather than a number 1 and hitting the ball all over the place in desperation and doubling every 2 serves.
As for you saying: “so you watched one set and you can rate the whole tournament?”

So you make your assumption of me concerning the whole tourney based on me stating that I saw one set of the final….oh my….Next time think before you react.

Oh my, striking out big time there. I saw almost all matches in Cincy live, especially from the quarters on. The level was unbelievably bad(just think back to the semi between jelly janko and Elena Dementieva…a combined UE count approaching the 100 and a combined 26 doubles…yukkk). I’m glad Jankovic won as she was the least bad….

And what I’ve seen from Toronto so far(Venus already out) doesn’t promise much more, but it’s early days…hope it will change…

Posted August 18th, 2009 at 9:58 pm