Serena Williams won her 10th title of the season today when she defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-2 in the Beijing final. Williams' back injury appeared to flare up during the second set, and Jankovic was treated for a hip injury. And while she didn't win the title, Jankovic's run at the China Open will make her number 8 in the world when the rankings are published tomorrow. She is now very much in the running for a spot in the WTA Championships in Istanbul.
Williams has now won a total of 56 WTA singles titles.
i still remember when Serena played Kuznetsova in the 2004 final. that was a great match. they were both just killing the ball and everything was going in. This was right after Kuzzie won the USOpen and the Serena/Capriati thing happened.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that was so long ago...
that was even Serena 1.0...
also when Jankovic kept losing in 1st rounds earlier this year, I was like...this reminds me of 2006. A few more losses and she'll make another run.
ReplyDeletebut her backhand is still not as reliable as before. her serve is way better. her movement can get sloppy.
...random observations...
I agree about JJ's backhand--it isn't quite there yet. It used to be something like 99% reliable. The serve started getting better a few years ago, but everything else fell apart. Serve is even better now, though.
ReplyDeleteFor those of y'all who like technical stuff: JJ's serve is way better because she now keeps the elbow below the shoulder until late it her delivery, and has impoved her toss a lot. Few coaches dare to alter players' service motion, because it is very hard to break the habits of more than ten years. Sometimes altering the serve makes it worse. However, some have done it. Elena Dementieva finally had a decent serve in her last season on the tour. Ivanovic needs help there.
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