Jankovic Wins Cincinnati, Another Poor Final for Safina

In yet another letdown in the final of a big tournament, Dinara Safina fell to Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-2 in the final of Cincinnati.  The match was hardly as close as the score would let on, with Jankovic in control from the get-go.

Jankovic's steady defense and counter-punching quickly undid Safina, who played nowhere near as well as she had against Flavia Pennetta in the semifinal.  Safina looked mentally out of it from the beginning, glaring at her coach Zeljko Krajan after seemingly every error, glaring at him until he finally complied by giving her some illegal coaching gesture.

Despite the dependence on her coach by illegal means, it was surprising how resistant Safina was to use her coach legally, not summoning him to the court until she trailed 3-0 in the second set.  Safina won the two games after Krajan's visit, but it was too little too late. 

Safina's reliance on her coach, a coach credited with her success in the last 16 months, is likely also keeping her from winning a slam.  While on-court coaching is allowed at WTA events, it isn't at the slams (and hopefully never will be). 

So until she learns to be more self-reliant, Safina isn't going to be hoisting any major hardware.  I would be curious to see how well she would be able to do if Krajan wasn't sitting courtside.  Would it free her or leave her completely lost? Probably will be a while before we ever find out.

Jankovic, on other hand, is a great thing for the women's game.  She is a hugely important player to have back near the top of the field heading into the US Open.  She embraces the spotlight none other, plays to the fans, and is dynamite in press conferences and interviews.  She still has the occasional excessive injury time out, but those seem more based out of hypochondria than any malicious intent to freeze up her opponent.

 With Jankovic officially in the mix (and now practically guaranteed the #4 seed), the Open has a defending finalist primed to go far again, one who in her last three trips to New York has lost in close matches in the second week to Venus, Serena, and Justine Henin.  Not a bad track record at all.

So welcome back, Jelena.  The sport is better off with you near the top.