Cincinnati, Ohio was smoldering in heat, but so was the tennis that was on this weekend. It was the semis and the final for the Western and Southern Financial Group Tennis tournament. To put it simply, Cincinnati Open Women’s Championship. This was the first time the event was scheduled as a Tier I tournament, and because it was a Premier event, all the top ranked players were there. With the Williams sisters losing out in the Quarters, it was an almost Eastern European showdown.
Dinara Safina, the number one player in the world, destroyed Flavia Pennetta, 6-2 6-0, to reach the final. The second semi-final was played between number 4 seed Elena Dementieva and number 5 seed Jelena Jankovic. Dementieva was the favorite and also received a strong support from the crowd. But it was Jelena who upset the Russian and advanced to the final. It was a game of see-saw and was a spectacle to watch as the match went down to the wire. Jankovic won a hard-fought first set on tie-breaker, but was blown away in the second set 6-0. She looked very frustrated and a little tired, while Dementieva looked as fresh as she was at the start. It could have been the heat and the humidity that may have got to Jankovic. In the third set, Jankovic had three match points at 5-2, and after an interrupting applause from the crowd and cheers for Dementieva to push, she lost the game and eventually the set went to tie-breaker. With match point for Dementieva this time at 6-3, Jankovic showed immense determination to come back and win the set, and with it the match. She looked genuinely excited and surprised with the win. The match was one of the best women’s games I have ever seen and it had its moments, like a foot fault from Dementieva, a first for me.
This set up a final between the current and former number ones. Safina was the clear favorite after Jankovic’s long game the previous night and the fact that she started the game strong. But Jankovic had other ideas, opening up the court and hitting winners, something she didn’t do against Dementieva. There she won on the sheer number of unforced errors and double faults from Dementieva. Jankovic took the first set 6-4 after breaking Safina early in the set. Jelena kept the pace in the second set, and took a lead of 3-0. After both players had trainers and coaches called for in the second set, Safina bounced back and made it 3-2. But Jankovic played a quality match and won the game relatively easily with 6-4 6-2.
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