No. 1 Serb through to third consecutive final; faces Russian seed

Jelena Jankovic will be going for her third title in a row, as she triumphed in an odd-score match against a Russian seed, and she will be facing another seeded Russian for the Kremlin Cup crown.

Jankovic won her semifinal match against No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva in a strange score, 06 61 60.

"I didn’t play bad in the first set but Elena was too good," Jankovic said. "She really had an answer for all my shots, she was always on the ball. I just couldn't do anything. But I tried to stay positive and wanted to take the initiative from her and dictate the points."

"I was thinking, what I need to do is to be better than her," Jankovic said. "I wanted to dominate, to be aggressive and try to win the points. I really put a lot of pressure on her to take the initiative from the first stroke."

The result left Dementieva pondering what went wrong after a near perfect start. "I have a feeling that I really didn't push a lot in the second and the third sets," the Russian said. "And I didn't finish points at the net, which was very successful in the beginning of the match."

"Her defensive game is just phenomenal, and it's almost impossible to hit a good shot from the baseline because she can cover the whole court," Elena said." No matter what shot you hit, she is able to get to it and hits everything back at you. It seems like she can cover not only a tennis court but a whole soccer field.

"Well, she is No.1 and she played like No.1," Dementieva added.

In the bottom half semifinal, No. 7 Vera Zvonareva had straight set success, as she ousted No. 2 seed Dinara Safina, 62 76(5).

"I tried to perform my best tennis today," said Zvonareva, before this week a four-time quarterfinalist at her home event. "It was my first ever Kremlin Cup semi-final and I wasn't under pressure - I really enjoyed playing here."

"I must say I'm a bit tired physically as I've played a lot recently but mentally I’m fresh and tomorrow I'll try to win my third title in a row,” said Jankovic, who won at Beijing (where she beat Zvonareva in the semis) and Stuttgart (where she beat her in the quarters) before heading to the Russian capital. The Serb leads the pair’s career head-to-head record 5-3.


Saturday, October 11, 2008

Singles - Semifinal
(1) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (3) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 06 61 60
(7) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (2) Dinara Safina (RUS) 62 76(5)