Jankovic cements No. 1 status with Kremlin Cup win

Tennis Betting Lines

10/12/2008 - Moscow, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jelena Jankovic of Serbia rolled to a straight-set victory over Russia's Vera Zvonareva in Sunday's final of the Kremlin Cup, strengthening her position as world No. 1 with her third WTA title in as many weeks.

The top-seeded Jankovic downed Zvonareva with relative ease 6-2, 6-4, needing an hour and 21 minutes to become the first woman since Nicole Vaidisova in 2005 to win three times in three weeks. Jankovic also won in Beijing and at Stuttgart prior to the Kremlin Cup victory.

The easy win in the final capped a tough ride to Sunday for Jankovic, who dropped the first set of her opener against Vera Dushevina, trailed 3-1 in both sets of her quarterfinal win over Flavia Pennetta, and rebounded from an awful start in her 0-6, 6-1, 6-0 win in Saturday's semifinal over the No. 3 seed and defending champion Elena Dementieva.

The world's top-ranked player also captured the French Open tuneup in Rome earlier this year and has nine titles for her career. She's also been a runner-up twice this season, losing to Serena Williams in finals at Miami and the U.S. Open.

Zvonareva, meanwhile, failed in her bid for her third title of 2008. She also won at Prague in May and last month in Guangzhou to increase her career victory haul to seven. In addition to her victories, she has also lost in the title matches at Hobart, Doha and Charleston.

Jankovic improved to 6-3 in her career against Zvonareva. The two had split six career meetings prior to this win streak for Jankovic, who bounced Zvonareva in the semifinals at Beijing two weeks ago and in the quarterfinals last week in Stuttgart.

Sunday's matchup was the fifth this season between the two, but first in a final. Before the last two matchups, Zvonareva prevailed in the quarterfinals at Charleston and Jankovic was a straight-set winner in the semifinals in Miami.

The only previous meeting in a final came last year in Auckland, where Jankovic prevailed with a 7-6 (11-9), 5-7, 6-3 triumph.

Jankovic took home a purse of $196,900 for winning the title on Sunday.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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