World NO. 4 Jelena Jankovic battled to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro yesterday to claim her first title of the season at the Andalucia Tennis Experience.
The Spaniard gave Jankovic a stiff test in sunny and breezy conditions on the clay in Marbella but the Serbian second seed prevailed thanks to her consistency and power.
Jankovic won the first set relatively comfortably with two breaks of serve before Suarez Navarro produced a string of superb passing shots to claim the second.
The 34th-ranked Suarez Navarro's challenge faded in the decider and she allowed Jankovic to storm into a 5-1 lead. The Spaniard briefly rallied to break Jankovic as she served for the match and then saved two match points on her serve in the next game.
Jankovic eventually sealed victory and her 10th career title when Suarez Navarro netted a return on the fifth match point.
At Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak upset top-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the MPS Group Championships on Saturday and will meet second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the final.
Wozniacki beat another Russian, unseeded Elena Vesnina in the other semifinal 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Danish teen Wozniacki beat Wozniak in their only previous clash at Wimbledon last year.
Wozniak, seeded fifth, won the first set and led 4-1 in the second before Petrova came back to win five straight games. "She stepped it up in the second set," Wozniak said. "I started backing up. Of course, my emotions got involved, but I found my composure in the third set."
Claycourt final
In Houston, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia reached his first claycourt final in a decade with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Evgeny Korolev of Russia at the US Men's Claycourt Championships on Saturday.
The former No. 1 player, who has won 26 titles, will meet first-time finalist Wayne Odesnik, the American beating Germany's Bjorn Phau 6-4, 6-3 in their semifinal.
Hewitt won his 498th career match, moving him closer to joining Roger Federer and Carlos Moya as the only active players with 500 wins. A victory in the final would give Hewitt his first title on clay since Delray Beach in 1999.
Hewitt failed to win a tournament in 2008 for the first time since he turned pro in 1998. He ended 2008 ranked No. 67 and has slumped to No. 88. He's still undergoing rehab for hip surgery last August.
"It's always nice to win tournaments," Hewitt said. "Doing all the rehab is worth it when you start winning tournaments again."
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily April 13, 2009)
