Jelena Jankovic retained her Italian Open title with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Alize Cornet in Sunday's final.
Cornet out of tune in Italian capital
Jelena Jankovic retained her Italian Open title with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Alize Cornet in Sunday's final.
Jankovic, the second seed, took advantage of a nervous display by her unseeded opponent to dominate a scrappy contest.
The Serbian quickly opened a 5-1 lead in the first set thanks to 18-year-old Cornet's error-strewn display.
And although the Frenchwoman pulled a break back, Jankovic immediately responed in kind to take the opening set.
The second set was an equally one-sided affair that reduced Cornet to tears during a brief pause while her opponent received treatment of her right shoulder.
Jankovic was unmoved and closed out a forgettable match in ruthless fashion.
Great feeling
"I'm happy to win my title for the second time. It's a great feeling," said Jankovic, who got a walkover to the final after Russian's Maria Sharapova pulled out of Saturday's semi with a calf strain.
"To be honest, I was not playing good tennis. I played much better throughout the week.
"Today I had an opponent who is a young player with great potential and I just didn't know how she was going to play.
"I was the favourite and I had the pressure on me. I was defending my title so I'm glad I could cope with the pressure and win it for the second time."
Cornet blamed her below-par performance on fatigue after going from the qualifying rounds to reach her first big final.
"I'm just disappointed because it was a great week for me, but I couldn't play my best tennis today because I was tired from the six matches before," she said.
"I was not nervous before the match. I was very cool. I just tried to take this match like any other one. I just felt tired from the beginning of the match until the end, so after that it was difficult."
