Justine Henin beats Jelena Jankovic in Rogers Cup final

2007-08-20T03:20:00.000-07:00

TORONTO (AP) -Justine Henin won her second Rogers Cup with a 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory over Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and revealed she almost didn't start in Sunday's final.

Henin was bothered by a sore right shoulder and the world No. 1 wasn't sure she would be able to play until a few hours before the match. She needed massage treatment after her semifinal and again on Sunday morning. Henin finally declared herself ready after hitting some balls at a morning practice session.

Tournament organizers produced a backup plan in the event Henin could not play. Third-ranked Jankovic would have won in a walkover but still would have played a fun match against Nadia Petrova of Russia, who lost to Henin in the quarterfinals.

Henin, who said her shoulder was fine after she got it warm, has a more complete game than Jankovic and she took advantage before a near-sellout crowd of 10,251 at the Rexall Centre.

"It's important to win this kind of match,'' Henin said. "It gives you a lot of confidence and it (was) very emotional too. It was so intense and we could feel it on the court.''

The game of the match came at 5-5 in the second set with the players going to deuce nine times before Henin eventually won it when Jankovic netted a forehand.

"It was one of the toughest games I've ever had,'' Henin said.

Jankovic had six break point opportunities in that game alone. After one Henin winner to get back to deuce, a stunned Jankovic smiled, dropped her racket and put both hands on top of her head.

A few points later, the Belgian hit a blistering cross-court winner as Jankovic stood frozen on the baseline.

A couple of rallies after that, Henin uncorked another devastating backhand and Jankovic applauded.

"I went to the net a lot but she gave me so many good passing shots,'' Henin said of the pivotal game. "But finally it paid off and I won that game and it was really important mentally.''

After taking the game, Henin broke Jankovic to complete the win in two hours, 18 minutes for her 35th career title and sixth of the year. Henin also won here in 2003.

Jankovic had a 4-1 lead in the opening set before Henin pulled even, eventually winning in a tiebreaker.

"It's like, I give her one finger and she takes my whole hand,'' Jankovic said.

"I think both of us played very well and there (were) a lot of great points,'' Jankovic said. "A high level of tennis, so it was great for fans to see that and I really enjoyed it.

"But unfortunately at the end ... I couldn't hang in there with her.''

Henin has won all seven career matchups against Jankovic.

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Justine Henin beats Jelena Jankovic in Rogers Cup final