Ana Ivanovic gave us a nice surprise by beating ninth seed Victoria Azarenka 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2 in the first round of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open in Cincinnati.

The world No.65 Ivanovic, who exited the last week’s tournament in San Diego in the first round, lost the first set in Cincinnati and appeared set for another early loss before rallying to upset the winner of this month’s Bank of the West Classic.

Next for Ivanovic will be 32nd-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova, the winner over Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round. Keep it up, Ana! (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Serbian qualifier Bojana Jovanovski made a big upset in the first round of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open by defeating seed No.14 Aravane Rezai, the winner of two claycourt tournaments this season (Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open and Collector Swedish Open Women). The young Serbian rising star, currently ranked at No.98, came back from a set down to defeat the Top 20 player Rezai 4-6 6-3 6-4 on the hard courts of Cincinnati. Jovanovski’s opponent in the second round will be Akgul Amanmuradova.

Former world number one Dinara Safina, unseeded in Cincinnati, made it to the second round with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Italian Roberta Vinci. Safina will next play reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who is seeded fourth at the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open and has a bye in the first round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

When the Western and Southern Financial Women's Open began, Jelena Jankovic was probably the last person I would tip off to win the title. And even through the tournament, I didn’t pay much attention to Jankovic because I thought she would crash to like whichever opponent. Thank you JJ for awaking my expectations!

After going through a spectacular semifinal against fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva, fifth-ranked Jankovic upset world number one Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 to win her second title of the season. One early break of Safina’s serve was enough to ensure the first set for Jankovic. The fifth-seeded Serb started the second set with a 3-0 lead, then Safina won the next two games, but that was it for the Russian in this final.

Jankovic started the season ranked number one, but has been having major problems to find the form that took her to the top. Now we have a strong reason to believe that another good era of Jankovic’s career is rising. (photo via BBC)

Rejuvenated Jelena Jankovic saved four match points to beat Elena Dementieva and set up a clash with world No.1 Dinara Safina in the final of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open.

The way Jankovic won was incredible. The Serb won the first and epic third set in a tiebreak, while in the second she was bageled. I didn't watch the match but when I saw the 7-6(2) 0-6 7-6(6) score, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

As I read, fifth-seeded Jankovic held three match points at 5-4 in the deciding set, but fourth-seeded Dementieva broke back. The next two games were breaks as well and it was Dementieva who established a 6-2 lead in the tiebreak. Jankovic didn’t give in, and fought back to eventually win on her fourth match point.

Jankovic has thus reached only her second final of the 2009 season: "It feels unbelievable. It's been a long time since I was in a final like this. Hopefully I can play well against Dinara, it's going to be tough." (source: Reuters, photo via Tennis Forum)

World No.1 Dinara Safina of Russia ended Flavia Pennetta’s 15-match winning streak in just 56 minutes, defeating the Italian 6-2 6-0 in the semifinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open.

Pennetta, who will on Monday become the first Italian Top 10 women's tennis player, looked a little bit worn-out playing against Safina who was on fire, hitting winner after winner. Safina retained her perfect record against Pennetta, having won all their seven meetings.

In her eighth final of the 2009 season Safina will face the winner of the semifinal between fourth seed Elena Dementieva and fifth seed Jelena Jankovic. (photo: Life.com)