Jankovic trounces Petrova to win back-to-back titles

BERLIN: Serbia's Jelena Jankovic celebrated her imminent return to the top of the world rankings with an easy 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova in the Stuttgart Grand Prix final yesterday.

Second seed Jankovic, who will replace Serena Williams as world No 1 on Monday, took advantage of regular errors from the unseeded Russian Petrova to clinch victory in 83 minutes. The Serbian also won the title of the China Open last month before she traveled to Stuttgart.

Petrova, champion at the indoor hardcourt event in 2006, played aggressively but was never able to match the consistency of Jankovic, who took the first set thanks to a single break in the Russian's opening service game.