Jelena Jankovic was victorious over Angelique Kerber of Germany in three sets (3-6, 7-6, 6-1) in a good, although error-prone, final before a near-capacity crowd at the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open. Jankovic, from Serbia, made the most of her wild card appearance earning her second title of the Asian swing. She won in Guangzhou at the end of September. This is her 15th WTA title and the first time since 2009 that she won two titles in one year.
A very happy Jankovic told the Kerber and the crowd at the trophy ceremony that she had an amazing week. “It’s been unbelievable – Hong Kong is such a beautiful city, it’s my second time here and I’m really falling in love with it. And Angie, thank you so much for letting me win today! You’ve beaten me so many times, so I’m happy I could finally do it. You’re an amazing competitor and fighter and I’m sure we’ll play again soon.” Kerber held a 4 -1 advantage over Jankovic in head-to-head matches before this final.
Kerber was equally gracious to Jankovic: “First of all I want to say congratulations to Jelena for a great week.” Kerber then addressed the spectators saying, “I tried as hard as I could. I was fighting until the last point. Some days you have a little bit of pain everywhere in your body, but I was really just trying my best until the end of the match. Jelena just played too well tonight.”
The left-handed German broke Jankovic’s serve in the first game of the match despite some early unforced errors. Kerber’s conservative game approach of keeping balls in play and letting her opponent make errors worked well for her. Jankovic lost serve again in the 7th game handing Kerber the game on a double fault for Kerber to go up 5-2. Thus far, Kerber had been the more consistent player with good baseline defense and playing the big points well. Jankovic did break back in the next game with good shots including three winners. However, Kerber was able to take the first set ripping a deep forehand down the line for another break of serve.
Jankovic stepped up the tempo in the second set and broke Kerber’s serve in the third game as the German was committing more errors. They traded breaks over the next two games. Jankovic consolidated the break at love to go ahead 4-2 as there was a dip in Kerber’s level of play. Kerber got back on serve in the eighth game aided by four unforced errors by Jankovic. They traded breaks again with erratic serving by both players. Each player then held serve leading to a tiebreak. Jankovic leveled the match at one set all despite two double faults in the tiebreak with good shot selection and Kerber errors.
Jankovic was in complete control of the third set. She won 84% of her service points compared to only 46% for Kerber. Kerber was not able to keep the ball in play and she was the one making the mistakes. She won only one game in the third set, immediately after her medical time-out for a thigh injury.
Despite the loss today, Kerber is still in contention for a place in the WTA Finals in Singapore at the end of October. The German has qualified for the WTA Finals twice before, Istanbul 2012 and 2013. She is scheduled to play in the Kremlin Cup and Jankovic will be playing at the Luxembourg Open next week.
