Last week’s Marbella tournament, a.k.a. the Andalucia Tennis Experience, was all about tourism tie-ins, so it’s no surprise that Jelena Jankovic was stuffed into a polka-dotted flamenco dress as soon as she won the tournament on Sunday. (Love how her tennis dress shows underneath!)
Before it’s too late, I wanted to mention how great this final was between Jelena Jankovic and Carla Suarez Navarro. Jelena found her form and her confidence again, beating the Spaniard 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in an exiting match played before a packed house. Everyone who cares about the WTA should be thrilled that J.J. is winning (and smiling) again after a well-documented slump – she’s one of the most entertaining characters on tour.
Even more thrilling (to me, anyway) was watching Carla Suarez Navarro, a goofy Tomboy with an awesome one-handed backhand and loads of grit. This was CSN’s first WTA tour final appearance, although the 20-year-old has already made it to the quarterfinals at this year’s Australian Open (l. to Dementieva, beat V.Williams on the way) and last year’s Roland Garros (l. to Jankovic.) She’s a blast to watch, with a unique, all-court game that breaks out of the current WTA mold. If she continues to improve, Carla will soon be my favorite player on the WTA circuit! I’m really excited about her, can you tell?
I was hoping to share some good quality highlights from the final, but decent footage is in short supply. Here’s the best I could do:
Here’s some good stuff from Carla’s Aussie Open match against Venus – just the first two points are damn impressive!
The WTA has stops in Barcelona and Charleston this week. I’ll have more on these tournaments soon – my mind is obviously still in lovely Marbella!
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