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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Jelena Jankovic might not feel worthy of being ranked No. 1, but she has assured herself of moving up to that spot later this month.
Jankovic, who never has reached a Grand Slam singles final, will become the 18th player to lead the WTA computer rankings when she rises to the top spot Aug. 11.
Currently No. 2, Jankovic will move ahead of another Serb, Ana Ivanovic, who has led the rankings since June 9, the day after winning the French Open. Ivanovic beat Jankovic in the semifinals at Roland Garros with the No. 1 ranking at stake.
According to the ranking projections released by the tour Saturday, Jankovic will have 3,620 points to Ivanovic's 3,612 on Aug. 11, even though neither player will be in action next week as the WTA Tour schedule takes a pause to accommodate the Olympics.
Ivanovic will lose 250 points next week as the defending champion of the 2007 tournament in Los Angeles, which will be dropped from the rolling 52-week WTA rankings calendar on Aug. 11. Jankovic will lose 125 points, because she only reached the quarter-final in Los Angeles last year.
On Friday, Jankovic thought she had wasted a chance to take over at No. 1 by losing in straight sets to unseeded Dominika Cibulkova in Montreal.
"At the moment I don't deserve that spot," Jankovic said after the upset loss. "I am not in the best shape; I am not at my highest level. So it will take time for me to get better."
She added: "The No. 1 spot doesn't matter."
Jankovic apparently had a change of heart, because in the tour's statement announcing her impending rise in the rankings, she is quoted as saying: "Since I was a young girl, it's been my dream to become No. 1 in the world."
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