The BNP Paribas Open came to a close on Sunday and its two weeks caused a few important changes in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, the most notable one being that Justine Henin is once again a ranked player.

Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Henin abruptly quit tennis in May 2008 and became the first player ever to retire while holding world No.1 ranking, however, since the Belgian’s ranking was not protected, she returned to the Tour in January 2010 as an unranked player. Only now, having competed in three tournaments since the comeback, Henin has earned her ranking back. The 27-year-old had reached back-to-back finals at Brisbane and the Australian Open, in Indian Wells she lost in the second round, and is now holding the 33rd spot.

Other significant moves include Caroline Wozniacki’s rise from No.4 to a career-high of No.2 after her appearance in the Indian Wells final. Samantha Stosur was a semifinalist at Indian Wells and the success earned her the most notable rankings rise of her career, as the Australian entered the Top 10 for the first time.

There were also unfortunate significant ranking movers. Vera Zvonareva was last year’s Indian Wells titlist, but this time she lost in the fourth round and fell from No.14 to No.23. Last year’s Indian Wells runner-up Ana Ivanovic was defeated in the second round this year and left the Top 50 for the first time since 2005. The former No.1 Ivanovic fell 30 spots, from No.28 to No.58. (photo: Esther Lim)

World number nine Jelena Jankovic won her 12th career WTA title and first one in seven months to give a much-needed boost to her confidence and Serbian tennis, which was once blossoming but hadn’t seen a WTA title since Jankovic’s Cincinnati victory in August 2009, and has been hit by the fact that Ana Ivanovic will be kicked out of the Top 50 as of next week.

The sixth-seeded Jankovic comfortably defeated second seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 in the Sunday’s final at the $4,500,000 BNP Paribas Open, and improved her record against the Dane to 4-0.

Wozniacki may have lost the final, but has a good consolation – the 19-year-old will move two spots up the rankings and reach career-high of No.2 on Monday. The runner-up prize money of $350,000 is not bad for healing wounds either. Jankovic, however, earned twice as much – $700,000, and got a glass trophy so heavy she couldn’t even lift it to pose for photographers. As for the Serb’s ranking projection, she is expected to rise to No.8. (photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok)

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark eased past Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland to reach the BNP Paribas Open title match for her first WTA final of the season.

Wozniacki defeated the fifth-seeded Radwanska 6-2 6-3 in the semifinals, and as they are good friends, according to their agreement the Dane will be the one footing their dinner bill.

Awaiting the 19-year-old Wozniacki in the next match is sixth seed and former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, whom Wozniacki hasn’t defeated in any of their three encounters.

Wozniacki is projected to reach career-high ranking of No.2 when the rankings are updated on Monday. (photo: Tidalist)

World No.9 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia stormed into her 23rd career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final, and the first one since last October, with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Samantha Stosur at Indian Wells.

The sixth-seeded Jankovic was two points away from defeat in the third round against unseeded Sara Errani, but hasn’t really been troubled since, cruising past Shahar Peer, Alisa Kleybanova, and now Samantha Stosur to reach the final. In the semifinal against the eighth-seeded Stosur, Jankovic broke the Australian twice in each set and benefited from her opponent’s 36 unforced errors and four double faults.

Despite the loss, the world No.11 Stosur has nothing to be sad about – she can be proud of playing the semifinals of a Premier-level tournament and will move into the Top 10 for the first time when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Jankovic’s opponent in the final will be either Caroline Wozniacki or Agnieszka Radwanska. None of the two has ever defeated Jankovic. (photo: Upali Wickramasinghe)

World number nine Jelena Jankovic reached her first semifinal of the season by beating Alisa Kleybanova 6-4 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The sixth-seeded Serb, a semifinalist at Indian Wells two years ago, won four straight games to come back from 2-4 down in the second set and win the error-strewn quarterfinal against the 23rd-seeded Russian. Jankovic made 21 unforced errors, while Kleybanova piled up a total of 40. However, the Russian was better in the number of winners, hitting 19 compared to Jankovic’s seven.

The 20-year-old Kleybanova was coming off her maiden WTA title at the Malaysian Open last month, and Jankovic ended her eight-match winning streak.

Jankovic’s semifinal opponent will be the winner of the Samantha Stosur vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez match. The other two already known semifinalists are good friends Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska. (photo by our reader Colleen)