Serbian defending champion Jelena Jankovic ended the giant-killing run of French qualifier Alize Cornet on Sunday at the WTA Rome International, trouncing the 18-year-old 6-2, 6-2.
Cornet had no answer for Jankovic’s relentlessly consistent ground strokes as the errors piled up, reducing her to tears at the changeover when she was trailing 1-4 in the second set.
Jankovic, 23, joins fellow Serbian Novak Djokovic in the winner’s circle here after he defeated fast rising Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka in the men’s final of the Rome Masters a week ago.
“It’s great for Serbian tennis,” said Jankovic, ranked fourth in the world. “It’s a Serbian revolution. I’m so happy Serbia is doing so well.”
Jankovic, although she hardly showed it, said she was “very nervous” on the court.
“I was the favorite and had the pressure on me. I’m glad I could win it a second time,” she said.
The precision serve that had helped Cornet defeat two Russians in the top 10, fifth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova and eighth-ranked Anna Chakvetadze, deserted her on Sunday.
“I’m very disappointed, but next time it’ll be better,” said Cornet, who dropped only one set — to Chakvetadze on Saturday — on her way to the final in the clay court warm-up for the French Open starting on Sunday.
“I was tired, so it was much more difficult than the other day ... I couldn’t do my best because of my six matches before,” said Cornet, whose run here began with three qualifying matches. “I wasn’t nervous before the match, I was very cool.”
In a tournament hit by several late-stage withdrawals, Jankovic booked her place in the final without hitting a ball when Maria Sharapova pulled out of their scheduled semi-final with a strained calf muscle.
For her part, Cornet ducked a quarter-final encounter with sixth-ranked Serena Williams, who withdrew with a back injury.
Sunday’s final was Cornet’s second on the WTA tour, having lost in Acapulco to Italian Flavia Pennetta in March.
The French sensation will see her WTA ranking rise from 34 to about 22 thanks to her success here.
Jankovic paid tribute to Cornet, saying she was a “young player with great potential.”
She sympathized with the teenager for crying, saying: “I know how it feels. I’m the same.”
At the net after the match, “I told her she had a great week and she has a great future ahead of her, she just has to keep going and her time will come,” Jankovic said.
Looking forward to Roland Garros, Jankovic said Justine Henin’s retirement had improved her chances at the Grand Slam event.
“She was the only one I couldn’t beat on clay — and on hard courts as well — so I have a better chance. I think I have a big opportunity to do very well at the French Open,” she said. “My dream is to be No. 1 in the world. At the moment I’m on the right track.”
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when
RSS