Second seed Jelena Jankovic beat fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the final of the inaugural Andalucia Tennis Experience to win her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of the season.

The world No.4 was coming off a very disappointing start to the season, but the title on the red clay of Marbella is a beautiful ending of the return-to-form week for Jankovic. The Serb cruised through her first two matches at the Andalucia Tennis Experience, and then won three straight marathons to take the trophy.

Jankovic claimed her 10th career singles WTA title, and fifth on clay. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo via Andalucia Tennis Experience)

World No.4 Jelena Jankovic reached her first final of the season with a 7-5 6-2 victory over Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella.

The second-seeded Jankovic will try to win her first title since October, when she plays fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain on Sunday. Suarez Navarro defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2 6-7(5) 6-2 in the semifinals.

The 20-year-old Suarez Navarro, who will play her first WTA singles final on Sunday, became well-known after upsetting Venus Williams at the Australian Open.

Jankovic is leading their head-to-heads 2-0, beating Suarez Navarro in straight sets at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2008. The Spaniard has won only nine games against the Serb so far. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic is continuing to progress at the Andalucia Tennis Championships. The Serbian world number four defeated Italy’s Roberta Vinci 3-6 6-3 7-6(6) in the quarterfinals.

Both players struggled to hold serve, there were ten breaks throughout the match. The 67th-ranked Vinci saved three match points in the 10th game of the third set and another in the tiebreak before Jankovic sealed the win at the fifth attempt, taking the tiebreak 8-6.

Jankovic will next play fourth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues for a place in Sunday’s final. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic reached the quarterfinals of the Andalucia Tennis Experience with a 6-3 6-0 victory over Tunisia's Selima Sfar, ranked 181th in the world. Unfortunately, any win of JJ has become news of late, and we sure need to celebrate it.

Jankovic is by far the highest-ranked player left in the tournament after Serena Williams lost in the first round to Klara Zakopalova. By the way, the 95th-ranked Zakopalova progressed further, beating Renata Voracova in the second round.

The world No.4 Jankovic will play Italy's Roberta Vinci for a place in the semifinals. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Still injured world No.1 Serena Williams suffered a 6-4 3-6 6-1 first-round defeat to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, ranked 95th, at the Andalucia Tennis Championships in Marbella, Spain.

The top seed lost her opening clay-court match this year, clearly not recovered from a thigh problem that affected her performance at the Sony Ericsson Open last week, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final.

"I was trying to play my best tennis but the injury prevented me from reaching my top level," said Williams, who wore heavy strapping on her left thigh.

The 26-year-old Zakopalova broke Williams as much as seven times in their encounter at the Andalucia Tennis Championships, while before Zakopalova had never won a set against the American. (source: Reuters India, photos: Ralf Reinecke)