Henin sees off plucky Jankovic

Top seed Justine Henin claimed the Rogers Cup on Sunday with a hard-fought victory against Jelena Jankovic in Toronto.

The Belgian defeated the second seed from Serbia 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 for her 35th career title and her sixth championship in 10 Tour events this season.

Along the way, the 25-year-old improved to 7-0 all-time against Jankovic, who is ranked third in the world.

As was the case with her four previous matches at this tournament, Henin started slowly before finding her stroke. The world number one was broken in the fourth game when she sent a seemingly simple shot wide right.

Jankovic went ahead 4-1, before Henin settled in and fought back for a break of her own to get back on serve. It appeared Henin had the set sewn up when she earned her second break to go ahead 6-5, but Jankovic returned the favour in the next game to force the tie-break.

Henin used her strong one-handed backhand on more than one occasion to take control in the breaker, which she won easily after forging a 5-1 cushion.

The second set was not short on drama either.

After the players traded two break points each, Henin took a 5-4 lead to put Jankovic into a sudden-death situation. Jankovic faced championship-point trailing 30-40, but persevered to win the game and extend the match, which lasted two hours and 18 minutes.

The 11th game of the set, with Henin on serve, was a classic 21-minute battle that saw both players squander chances. Henin, who drew looks of astonishment from Jankovic during the marathon game, eventually emerged with a 6-5 lead.

On serve and perhaps feeling the effects of the previous game, Jankovic fell behind 0-40. To her credit, she saved four more championship points before Henin finally sealed the victory with a strong forehand winner.