• WTA Tour

Jankovic falls at the last to clay-court specialist

ESPN staff
May 8, 2010
Jelena Jankovic could not find a way past the Spanish clay-court specialist © Getty Images
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Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez held off a determined battle from seventh seed Jelena Jankovic to win her third career title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.

Martinez Sanchez capitalised on her opponent's shaky serve to seal a 7-6(5) 7-5 victory after two hours and 20 minutes on court.

The world No. 26 took the lead four times, only to be broken back by the stubborn Jankovic, who demonstrated the gritty determination that saw her save match points to beat world No. 1 Serena Williams in the semi-final.

Trailing 5-2 in the opener, Jankovic won four games on the trot to force the set to a tie-breaker. It was the Spaniard who took the opening set after an evenly-matched tie-breaker in which neither player was willing to take too big a risk.

After twice forging a lead in the second set, only to be pegged back by the former world No. 1, Martinez Sanchez took a crucial break to take a 6-5 lead held her nerve to serve out for the match.

In the Estoril Open final, Anastasija Sevastova defeated Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 7-5.

Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was dumped out of the Madrid Open at the first-round stage after falling to a 3-6 6-2 0-6 defeat against Shahar Peer. Sixth seed Elena Dementieva fared better, breezing into the second round with a 6-0 6-1 win over Aleksandra Wozniak.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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