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Jankovic, Zvonareva reach Kremlin Cup final

Sat 11th, October 2008

Moscow, Russia (Sports Network) - Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Russia's Vera Zvonareva were semifinal winners Saturday at the Kremlin Cup and will meet for the title on Sunday.

The top-seeded Jankovic bounced back from a disastrous first set to post a 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over third-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, while the seventh-seeded Zvonareva knocked off second-seeded countrymate Dinara Safina, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

Jankovic won the battle of Beijing champions, as she took home the WTA event in the Olympic city two weeks ago and Dementieva was the Olympic gold medalist in August.

It appeared as though Dementieva would win this matchup after a dominant first set in which she connected on each of her 12 first serves and won 27 of the 32 points played.

Jankovic, though, rebounded and broke serve three times in the second set while saving three break points against her own serve. The third set was more of the same, as Dementieva's serve deserted her.

After her perfect first-set effort, Dementieva connected on just 44 percent of her first serves in the third set. She won just 11 points in the set.

Jankovic will now try for her third title in as many events, as she followed up the Beijing crown with a victory at Stuttgart last week. The world's top- ranked player also captured the French Open tuneup in Rome earlier this year and has eight titles for her career. She's also been a runner-up twice this season, losing to Serena Williams in finals at Miami and the U.S. Open.

Zvonareva, meanwhile, will be gunning for her third title of 2008. She also won at Prague in May and last month in Guangzhou to increase her career victory haul to seven. In addition to her victories, she has also lost in the title matches at Hobart, Doha and Charleston.

To reach her sixth final of 2008, Zvonareva beat one of the hottest players on the WTA Tour. Safina had reached the final in seven of her previous 10 events, winning four times.

After disposing of Safina for the third time in as many tries this year, Zvonareva will have a chance to avenge her two most recent losses. Jankovic beat her in the semifinals at Beijing two weeks ago and in the quarterfinals last week in Stuttgart.

Sunday's matchup will be the fifth this season between the two, but first in a final. Before the last two matchups, Zvonareva prevailed in the quarterfinals at Charleston and Jankovic was a straight-set winner in the semifinals in Miami.

Jankovic has a career mark of 5-3 against Zvonareva. The only previous meeting in a final came last year in Auckland, where Jankovic prevailed with a 7-6 (11-9), 5-7, 6-3 triumph.

First prize Sunday will be $196,900.