Top seed Jelena Jankovic fell 5-7 6-3 6-3 to world No.17 Flavia Pennetta in the second round of the Tennis.com Zurich Open and lost her first in 13 matches.

Pennetta has never before beaten Jankovic, and they had played five times before this Zurich meeting. Additionally, the 26-year-old Italian today defeated a number one player in the world for the first time.

Jankovic, who won three straight titles heading into the Tennis.com Zurich Open, beat Pennetta in straight sets last week at the Kremlin Cup after the Italian had knocked out Venus Williams.

The Serb has never made it past the second round at the Zurich Open in four tournament appearances. (photo: Getty Images)

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Jelena Jankovic is currently the top-ranked women’s tennis player in the world, for a second week in succession, and judging by the present situation, she’ll most probably keep that prestigious spot until the end of this year regardless of results to come.

The 23-year-old Serb first reached the No.1 spot in August, but, disappointingly, occupied it for only one week. However, Jankovic proved she deserves to be top-ranked without a doubt when she won three straight singles titles (Beijing, Stuttgart, and Moscow).

Jankovic has built enough of a lead on her rivals, and is now expected to hold the No.1 position for much longer. Still, the projection that she’ll ride out of the year as No.1 is based on a couple of assumptions. Read more »

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I hope Jelena Jankovic finally proved to be worthy of occupying the No.1 spot in the rankings by winning her third title in 15 days (after China Open and Stuttgart). The top-seeded Serb prevented Russian Vera Zvonareva from scoring victory in a Tier I final for the first time.

Both players were competing in their sixth final of the year, but Jankovic was more successful, defeating the seventh-seeded Muscovite 6-2 6-4 and taking home her fourth title of the 2008 season.

On her way to the Kremlin Cup trophy and $196,900 in Moscow, the 23-year-old Jankovic defeated Vera Dushevina, Flavia Pennetta, third seed Elena Dementieva, and eventually Vera Zvonareva.

BTW: World No.4 Elena Dementieva said this about Jankovic's tennis: "Her defensive game is just phenomenal, and it's almost impossible to hit a good shot from the baseline because she can cover the whole court. No matter what shot you hit, she is able to get to it and hits everything back at you. It seems like she can cover not only a tennis court but a whole soccer field." (photo via Yahoo)

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Top seed Jelena Jankovic defeated third-seeded Elena Dementieva 0-6 6-1 6-0 (what a score!) in the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup.

Jankovic overcame a dreadful start to defeat the defending champion Dementieva. After being bageled in the first set, the Serb took 12 of the last 13 games to overcome the Russian in one hour 17 minutes and reach the final in Moscow.

Jankovic, who is now 6-3 lifetime against the Olympic champion Dementieva, is making only her second appearance at the Kremlin Cup. The first time she played in Moscow was in 2005 when she fell in the first round.

The world number one Jankovic is now just one step away from her third successive WTA singles title. Her next opponent will be Russian Vera Zvonareva who has just defeated compatriot Dinara Safina. (photo: Getty Images)

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World number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is on a good way to her third consecutive WTA singles title as she reached the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup with a 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Italian Flavia Pennetta.

The world No.18 Pennetta led 3-0 in the tiebreak but then lost momentum by double-faulting. The Italian had another chance; in the second set she could have went 4-2 up during a game of 12 deuces, but top-seeded Jankovic prevailed.

Jankovic’s next opponent will be defending champion and Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva who beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-4 4-6 7-6(6) to reach the last four.

Here’s what third-seeded Dementieva said about Jankovic's current form: "She is the strongest player in the world. She's playing terrific tennis and has just won back-to-back titles on different surfaces and in different parts of the world. It won't be an easy match. It will be interesting for me to challenge her."

In the other two quarterfinals second seed Dinara Safina defeated fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 7-5, and seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva beat Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 7-5 6-4 to ensure her first semifinal in her hometown event, after playing five quarterfinals. (source: BBC, photo: Getty Images)

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