Monday, 19 May, 2008

Jelena Jankovic rolled to her second consecutive crown at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia with a 6-2 6-2 victory over unseeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet on Sunday.

It was the first title of the year for Jankovic, who was a runner-up at Miami in April.

The Serbian becomes the second back-to-back champion at this Tier I claycourt event in the last five years, joining Amelie Mauresmo, who won successive crowns in 2004 and 2005.

Jankovic's chances for a second consecutive crown here received a major boost on Saturday whe the 23-year-old did not even have to take the court for the semi-finals when Maria Sharapova withdrew due to a calf injury.

After a day of rest, Jankovic dominate Cornet, who was appearing in her first career Tier I final after upsetting number six seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia 3-6 6-4 6-3 on Saturday.

Jankovic took full advantage of any jitters that the 18-year-old Frenchwoman might have had, breaking all four of Cornet's service games in the opening set.

In all, Jankovic finished with seven breaks on nine chances in claiming her sixth career title.

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