Vinci tops Jankovic for Texas title
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Italian Roberta Vinci earned a 7-5, 6-3 win over former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic to win the title at the $220,000 Texas Open, a final U.S. Open tune-up.
The third-seeded Vinci took advantage of five double faults from the second- seeded Serbian on the hardcourts at Hilton Lakes Tennis & Sports Club. Vinci captured her first title of the year and seventh of her career.
"It was so exciting. I'm so happy," Vinci said. "I was so tired, but I played a really good final."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 27-year-old Jankovic, who was seeking her first title since 2010 and 13th of her career, was a runner-up in Birmingham earlier this summer.
The 29-year-old Vinci, who claimed three championships last year, is 7-1 in her career finals and earned $37,000 for Friday night's victory.
Jankovic was ahead 5-4 and serving in the first set, up 30-15, but couldn't overcome a close call and fell apart to lose the set.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There was one close call, which I thought was out. If that ball went my way it would have been two set points on my serve," Jankovic said. "After that everything seemed to go downhill. I started making a lot of errors and lost five games in a row."
Jankovic fell to 3-1 lifetime against Vinci.