When I found out Jelena Jankovic would be playing the Monterrey final, I got excited. Never known for big-babe tennis on court, Jankovic has a large personality off it. Add in Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who can play big-babe tennis and toss out some JJ-sized quotes herself, and what you have is a final worth watching, no matter the tennis.
The tennis, as it turned out, was infrequently great and frequently not. After three sets and roughly two hours, No. 2 seed and defending champion Pavlyuchenkova defeated No. 1 seed Jankovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
In the first set Jankovic defended well, if not as well as she did in her glory days, and served even better. She racked up a 74% first-serve percentage and three aces (with no double faults). Pavlyuchenkova won just three points on Jankovic’s serve that entire set.
In the second and third sets Pavlyuchenkova continued to hit big but made fewer errors. But the stat of the match may have been the number of break points Pavlyuchenkova saved: In the last two sets she faced eight and saved them all. It was partly because Pavlyuchenkova served well, partly because Jankovic didn’t return well.
She certainly didn’t return like the Jankovic of 2008. That was clear at other points, too. To get to match point Pavlyuchenkova hit a forehand crosscourt winner. Jankovic wasn’t far away, and the old JJ would have gotten to it. This version didn’t even try.
This win gives Pavlyuchenkova her third WTA singles title and makes her the first player this year to defend a title. It also gets her a 2-0 record against Jankovic, a 3-0 record in finals and a 10-0 record in Monterrey. Lindsay Davenport predicted Pavlyuchenkova, 19 years old and ranked No. 19, will end the year in the Top 10.
And what of Jankovic, who celebrated her 26th birthday Monday and played her 25th singles final today? For four straight years, whether she’s won or lost, smiled or frowned, used less Kleenex or more, she’s remained in the Top 10. She has the “longest ongoing streak” among her fellow Top-10ers. But for the third straight week she’s reached at least the semis of a tournament, only to lose to the eventual winner. She leaves here likely to remain No. 6, but she’ll head to Indian Wells with a ton of ranking points to defend as last year's champion.
Personally, I’m watching to see if the smile reappears. When a woman who once played like she lives for the game now looks like she’s just out there to pay off a big mortgage, you can’t help but wonder where the joy went. Did the results go the way of the smile, or did the smile go away after the losses? Maybe the way up is fun and the stay there just work? I don’t know the answers. I just know I want the smile back.
—Bobby Chintapalli