semifinals at
Beijing and in the quarterfinals last week at Stuttgart.
Jankovic broke early in today's match to lead 3-1, then broke Zvonareva at love to reach 4-1 before holding her serve to race to a 5-1 first set score. Zvonareva held serve to reach 5-2 behind an backhand down the line winner and an overhead winner.
Jankovic held serve then broke serve to reach 6-2, 1-0. Zvonareva broke back to reach 1-1 with a topspin backhand lob and a netted Jankovic forehand.
Down 2-4 in the final set, Zvonareva rallied to reach 4 all after one of her groundstokes hit the net then fell over for a winner to set up breakpoints on Jankovic's serve.
But after being on the run for much of the match and falling finally into a game filling increasingly with more unforced errors, Zvonareva dropped the final two games to lose the match.
Three groundstroke unforced errors in a row from Zvonareva decided the final game as Jankovic proved once more today that she is easily one of the steadiest players of the WTA Tour.
Despite not having posted the best results this year at the grand slams including losing in the finals of the US Open last month to world number two Serena Williams of the USA, Jankovic in her last three tournaments has won 12 matches in a row. Jankovic has also reached at least the quarterfinals in 19 of her 20 tournaments played this year.
Williams and third ranked Dinara Safina of Russia are the only two WTA Tour players who could also end the year ranked number one depending on tournament results the next several weeks.
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