Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia moved into the second round of Roland Garros with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory over Romania's Monica Niculescu.

It was not that easy win for Jankovic. Despite taking a 3-0 lead in the first set, she in the end had to play a tiebreak. The Serb finally won the first set after one hour of play. World number 86 Niculescu, who was making her Roland Garros debut, confused world No.3 Jankovic with a series of superfine drop shots. In the second set, however, Jankovic got used to Niculescu’s game and finished the set in just 32 minutes.

In the second round Jankovic will meet either Italian Tathiana Garbin or New Zealand's Marina Erakovic. (via BBC)

World No.4 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia successfully defended a title for the first time in her career with a 6-2 6-2 victory over French qualifier Alize Cornet, ranked 34th in the world.

Fourth-seeded Jankovic was dominant throughout the final. She established a 5-1 lead in the first set, and although Cornet pulled a break back, Jankovic immediately broke back to take the opening set. The second set was the same story. The 18-year-old Frenchwoman even broke into tears at 4-1 down while Jankovic took a pause to have treatment on her right shoulder. Cornet, who scored victories over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze on her way to the final, held her next service game and then earned three break points on Jankovic's serve but the champion saved them all and went on to break again to claim the Internazionali BNL d'Italia title.

Winning in Rome, the 23-year-old Jankovic took home her sixth career WTA title and her first since winning in Birmingham at the DFS Classic last year in June. Also, she earned $196,900.

In the next rankings, Jankovic will move to No.3, and Cornet, who played only her second WTA final, is expected to make her Top 30 debut, improving to around No.22. (photo via Yahoo)

Jelena Jankovic is now just one step away from defending her Internazionali BNL d’Italia title. The Serb was supposed to play Maria Sharapova in the semifinals, but the Russian withdrew before the match with a calf injury.

Sharapova believes that the injury is not serious and is expecting it to heal in a few days. Being ready for the French Open is her priority.

"The most important thing is recovery and to be ready for the French (Open), which is obviously a goal for every player," Sharapova, who will on Monday move to No.1 in the rankings, told a news conference.

"I'm going to Paris in a couple of hours. I'm going to get some treatment over there and try to be ready as soon as possible. I hope in two days I'll be able to be on court and be normal." Read more »

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic, seeded fourth, dismantled Venus Williams' power game and advanced to the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. Jankovic defeated Williams 5-7 6-3 6-2.

"I was fighting for every point," said the world No.4. "Venus is really strong, and to win you have to really play your best."

I didn’t get to see the match, but as I can read in the news, Williams was let down by her forehand.

In the semis Jelena Jankovic will meet either ninth-seeded Patty Schnyder or second-seeded Maria Sharapova, who are now playing their quarterfinal. The other semifinal will feature French qualifier Alize Cornet, who advanced as injured Serena Williams withdrew, and sixth seed Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

Jelena Jankovic is a very successful tennis player, but she has often mentioned that tennis is not her only interest. Besides other things, she loves acting and Hollywood, and has even taken part in a Rebook Entertainment-produced TV show. She was also promised a role in one movie. We now know that Jelena took an acting class, and I suppose it’s not her last one.

Here’s what Jelena said on her blog:

Monday was so busy for me. Apart from practicing and All-Access Hour which is always scheduled at the beginning of the week, I had an acting class that I took part in. It was so much fun. It is always a good time when you do something to forget a bit about tennis, and relax your mind. It was only an hour long, but I was given several themes and at the beginning they gave me a task to be in certain situations and I really had to use my imagination. After that, I did variety of exercises in order to test me and see my acting potential.

I have no worries about Jelena Jankovic. I would like her to become even more successful in tennis, because she certainly hasn’t reached her top, but even if it doesn’t work out, she could make a living on various other things, and be happy. I see her as the type of person open to every new experience. (via Down the Line)