Third-seeded Jelena Jankovic convincingly beat Patty Schnyder 6-1, 6-3 to advance to her first Rome final.
JJ showed a high level of tennis — she moved brilliantly, and with great precision hit the lines and the corners. The Swiss, on the other hand, failed to hold her serve once and had more than 30 unforced errors. Ok, she had some fantastic drop shots and serves, but that wasn’t enough to level up her forehand and backhand errors.
“I was expecting a more difficult match,” Jelena said afterwards.
To enter the semis the Swiss had a thrilling three set match against Serena Williams, so the Serbian paid tribute to Schnyder saying: “She played unbelievably yesterday and it’s really hard to play two days in a row like she did.”
JJ’s shots were extremely precise, her concentration was on a great level and it’s no wonder that she’s ranked 5th in the world. On Sunday, the 22-year old will have a chance to fight for her second Tier I title — in mid-April she won the $1,340,000 Family Circle Cup. Her opponent in the final will be either second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova or ninth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova.
If Jelena takes the trophy, she will move up to number four in the world. (source: Internazionali BNL d’Italia official site, BBC Sport)