Jankovic swings past Venus to Charleston final

General / Editor / 15 April 2007 / Leave a Comment

Jelena Jankovic set up a Family Circle Cup final showdown with Dinara Safina after a 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) win over Venus Williams.

Big-hitting Williams was the warm favourite going into this semi-final clash with the Serbian second seed and won four games in a row to take the opening set in Charleston.

Jankovic turned the match by breaking decisively in the eighth game of a scrappy second set to level proceedings before eventually triumphing with a winner that needed to be checked by the umpire after a see-saw tie-break tussle.

Jankovic will now face fourth seed Safina after Vera Zvonareva retired in their semi-final with the score at 6-3 0-1.

The all-Russian encounter was ended when Zvonareva decided not to risk further damage to a wrist injury.

"It just got really bad to the point I wasn't able to perform," she said.

Jankovic is the 1.48 favourite to take the title in Sunday's final, with the well-rested Safina rated a 2.9 shot for an upset victory.