Jankovic Finishes With A Flourish

© Getty ImagesJelena Jankovic wins her first trophy since August 2008 in Cincinnati.

Sixth-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic was nearly sent packing last week in Indian Wells, but recovered for an inspired finish at the 2010 BNP Paribas Open, clinching her 12th career title Sunday afternoon with a decisive 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki on Denmark.

Her biggest challenge of the day arguably came after the match, when she was confronted with the task of lifting the heavy trophy. “I have to do some more work,” Jankovic said with a laugh after her failed effort.

Jankovic had not lost a set to Wozniacki in their three previous encounters, and once again came out with confidence. She immediately took control of the match, rolling out to a 4-0 lead before Wozniacki finally managed to hold. Though the young Dane managed to recover one service break, she dropped her serve at love in the following game.

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Jankovic broke Wozniacki to begin the second set, and it would prove enough for her to clinch the victory. She capitalized on her first championship point as Wozniacki returned her serve long.

“I think I was ready from the start,” said Jankovic. “I really went out there knowing my game plan, what I needed to do. I wanted to be really aggressive, but at the same time patient and not really go for too much or go over the limit with some balls. But I waited for my opportunities, and when I had them, I took them.’

Wozniacki, who lost four of five break points faced on serve, said: “I tried to change it when I saw it was not going [my] way, but I just made a few too many errors at the important points. I couldn't really get to play the game that I wanted to play. Jelena took advantage of that and she played a great match.”

It marked the second time in three years that a Serbian has won the women’s title at the BNP Paribas Open, following Ana Ivanovic’s victory in 2008. Novak Djokovic completed the Serbian sweep as he also won the men’s title that year.

The 25 year old had nearly bowed out in the third round last Monday, two points away from a loss in the second-set tie-break against Italian Sara Errani, before battling her way to victory. She did not drop a set for the remainder of the tournament.

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“I really had a wakeup call against Errani,” said Jankovic. “I think that was my toughest match here… I was talking to my coaches, to the team, and I think I cleaned up some of the things in my game, and overall was getting more and more confident with each match and took the title.”

Despite the loss, Wozniacki is projected to move up to a career-high No. 2 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings on Monday. She was playing in her first final of the 2010 season after reaching a circuit-best eight last year, including her first Grand Slam championship match last September at the US Open (l. to Clijsters).

“When I think back on this tournament, I think I've done a great job,” said Wozniacki. “It was a strong field, and then coming out as a finalist and then coming out as No. 2 in the world tomorrow, that's still a great feeling.”