Jelena me je odusevila po ko zna koji put. Svaka joj cast! Izgleda da je njena taktika na turnirima, a posebno ovde u Moskvi, da u prvim kolima ne baca bisere pred svinje, tacnije da ne igra agresivno ako nema potrebe. Kad joj je zagustilo, upalila je dodatne motore. Niko nije u stanju da igra onako precizne lopte, duboke lopte, relije i da tako inteligentno cita protivnicu. Sada sam siguran da moze da pobedi svaku igracicu.
MOSCOW, Russia - For the third time in as many weeks Jelena Jankovic will need to add Vera Zvonareva to her list of victims if she is to triumph at a tournament, after the two Top 10 stars won their semifinal matches at the Tier I Kremlin Cup on Saturday. Recovering from a dire start, world No.1 Jankovic cruised past defending champion Elena Dementieva 06 61 60, while seventh-seeded Zvonareva scored a mild upset - on paper, at least - over No.2 seed Dinara Safina, 63 76(5).
Jankovic and Zvonareva now face each other for the fifth time this season. But for a while it looked like Jankovic would miss the appointment, as third seed Dementieva came out blazing in her 62nd career semifinal. The Russian didn't miss a first serve in the opening set, in which she won 27 of the 32 points played, several of them at the net.
"I didn’t play bad in the first set but Elena was too good," Jankovic said. "She really had an answer for all my shots, she was always on the ball. I just couldn't do anything. But I tried to stay positive and wanted to take the initiative from her and dictate the points."
The second and third sets would indeed prove to be a very different story as Jankovic began to find her rhythm. Although the Serb faced break points three times, she fended them off on each occasion, while only allowing Dementieva to hold serve once for 1-4 - the last game she would win in the match. Serving to keep the encounter alive, the Russian netted a straightforward backhand to give Jankovic a first match point, which she seized with a slashing backhand crosscourt.
"I was thinking, what I need to do is to be better than her," Jankovic said. "I wanted to dominate, to be aggressive and try to win the points. I really put a lot of pressure on her to take the initiative from the first stroke."
The result left Dementieva pondering what went wrong after a near perfect start. "I have a feeling that I really didn't push a lot in the second and the third sets," the Russian said. "And I didn't finish points at the net, which was very successful in the beginning of the match."
But the Olympic champion, who was also beaten by Jankovic in the semis at Flushing Meadows, gave credit to her opponent.
"Her defensive game is just phenomenal, and it's almost impossible to hit a good shot from the baseline because she can cover the whole court. No matter what shot you hit, she is able to get to it and hits everything back at you. It seems like she can cover not only a tennis court but a whole soccer field.
"Well, she is No.1 and she played like No.1," Dementieva added.
In the second semifinal Zvonareva was quick to seize the initiative against a player she had already beaten twice this year, breaking Safina twice to wrap up the first set in less than half an hour. Safina lifted her first service percentage from 45% in the opener to 63% in the second set to force a tie-break, but although she rallied from 1-4 down to establish a 5-4 lead, the more consistent Zvonareva swept through the last three points for victory.
"I tried to perform my best tennis today," said Zvonareva, before this week a four-time quarterfinalist at her home event. "It was my first ever Kremlin Cup semi-final and I wasn't under pressure - I really enjoyed playing here."
Zvonareva, who has collected two of her seven career titles this year at Prague and Guangzhou, will be playing her third ever Tier I final on Sunday, having reached the same stage at Doha and Charleston earlier this year. Jankovic will be gunning for her fourth title of the season, and ninth overall. Regardless of the result, she will retain the top ranking on Monday, for a third career week.
"I must say I'm a bit tired physically as I've played a lot recently but mentally I’m fresh and tomorrow I'll try to win my third title in a row,” said Jankovic, who won at Beijing (where she beat Zvonareva in the semis) and Stuttgart (where she beat her in the quarters) before heading to the Russian capital. The Serb leads the pair’s career head-to-head record 5-3.
Svaka cast i Zverki Zvoncici! Igrala je odlicno stvarno i steta sto je naletala na Jelenu na prethodnim turnirima. Igra kao top5 igracica.
Evo zreba za Cirih. Jelena u drugom kolu igra protiv Petrove ili Penete.
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/glob ... _draws.pdf
Ana ima mnogo laksi zreb - valjda je bilo protekcije u Svajcarskoj. Zelja mi je mala, a to je da se u Cirihu Ana vrati. I da, Ana je sada No. 4.