THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROME -- Jelena Jankovic overcame a pain in her neck and French teenager Alize Cornet on Sunday to win the Italian Open for the second straight year.
The win will help Jankovic, who beat Cornet 6-2, 6-2, establish herself as a serious contender for the French Open, which begins next weekend.
"I like playing on clay courts," the fourth-seeded Serb said. "I had a great clay-court season last year, and then playing here and winning this tournament twice gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the tournaments."
In Sunday's final, Jankovic lost her serve early in each set but went on to take control against her 18-year-old opponent, producing solid groundstrokes that combined with Cornet's unforced errors to give Jankovic the win.
In the second set, Jankovic was leading 4-1 when she called the trainer to look at her right shoulder. Jankovic lost the following game -- the first and only time in the match Cornet held serve -- but went on to win the match as she held serve and then broke her opponent to love.
Jankovic said she started feeling the pain between her neck and right shoulder in the second set.
"Some kind of tightness," Jankovic said. "I called for the trainer, she was doing some work and she was putting some cream so that I don't feel it."
On her way to the Rome title, Jankovic dropped only one set, in her quarter-final match against Venus Williams. She did not play her semifinal match because Maria Sharapova pulled out with a calf injury.
The 23-year-old Jankovic said she felt nervous going into the Rome final against an opponent with nothing to lose.
"I didn't know what to expect from her, she's a young player with great potential," Jankovic said. "And, of course, she wasn't the favourite. I was the favourite and I had the pressure on me."
For Cornet, it was an emotional event. Unable to produce her best shots, piling up errors and converting only three out of 12 break points, the Frenchwoman broke into tears in her corner during a changeover in the second set. After the match ended, she was still fighting back the tears.
"Right now I'm just disappointed," Cornet said. "I couldn't do my best tennis today because of my physical condition, because I was tired because of my six matches before.
"I knew that Jelena could be maybe the most difficult player to play because she moves very well on the court..
Currently ranked 34, Cornet is having a breakthrough year. The first female qualifier to reach the final at the Foro Italico in the Open Era, this week she beat third-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova before seed No. 5 Serena Williams withdrew from the quarter-finals with a back problem. She then beat the sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze in the semifinals.
Jankovic said the Rome victory gave her confidence ahead of the French Open. Following the retirement of Justine Henin, who won the last three titles at Roland Garros and defeated Jankovic in the semifinals last year, the Serb thinks she has a better chance.
"She was the one that was my worst opponent last year on clay season ... So now she's not playing anymore, so of course I have a bigger chance," said Jankovic, who will spend time in Belgrade with her family before going to Paris to train for the Grand Slam tournament.
"I'm playing well at the moment and I'm working with my new coach and he's teaching me so many things," she added. "I think I have a big opportunity to do very well in the French Open."
Cornet said she is also looking forward to the French Open, where she will be a crowd favourite.
"I think I have the level to win some matches," she said.
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