Safina to face Jankovic in Cincinnati final

Top seed Dinara Safina finally was able to stop the winning streak of Flavia Pennetta, who was on fire for the past month, as the Russian crushed the Italian with an easy score, while in the final No. 5 seed Jelena Jankovic will await her, as the Serb defeated No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva in three tough sets, surviving four match points against her, and taking the match on her fourth match point.

Safina was not challenged in her semifinal match, outlasting No. 14 seed with a score of 62 60.

"I knew I had to be strong from the beginning, because I know what it's like playing that many matches in a row, and when somebody starts putting pressure on you right away when you're tired, it's tough to face it," Safina said. "I didn't want her to get into the match. If I let her get into it, she'd start feeling better and better and she'd forget about everything."

Jankovic was in many tough positions in her match, being 40-0 up at 5-4 in the third set, and not being able to convert any of those chances. Dementieva got back to make it a tiebreaker, where she was up 6-2, and couldn't convert any of those match points either. Jankovic came back to make it 6-6, then Dementieva made a double fault, giving Jankovic a chance to serve for the match, and so she did, winning the match with a score of 76(2) 06 76(6).

The head-to-head result between Safina and Jankovic is 3-2 to Safina. Let's see if Jankovic can make it even, or if Safina can make an even bigger lead.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Singles - Semifinals

(1) Dinara Safina (RUS) d. (14) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 62 60

(5) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (4) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 76(2) 06 76(6)