Jelena Jankovic loses opening match of season-ending WTA Championships in Doha

Jankovic loses in 1st round of WTA Championships

DOHA, Qatar — Victoria Azarenka defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-3 Tuesday in the first round-robin group match in the WTA Tour’s season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships.

Azarenka took advantage of the Serb’s shaky forehand to break five times and moved a step closer to the knockout rounds of the $4.55 million tournament.

Later Tuesday, second-ranked Serena Williams faced Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Venus Williams played Elena Dementieva.

The tournament features the top eight players in the world, with four women in each group. The top two from each group advances to the semifinals.

The sixth-ranked Azarenka made her debut in the WTA final, while Jankovic qualified for the third time.

Jankovic looked sluggish and error-prone from the start, and Azarenka broke in the opening game with a return winner.

The eighth-ranked Jankovic looked increasingly frustrated in the second set, and netted a backhand to hand Azarenka another break and a 2-1 lead. The former top-ranked Serb evened it at 3-3, only to let Azarenka break right back after a string of unforced errors.

Azarenka saved a break point before holding for 5-3, and converted her first match point with a forehand winner down the line.

Jankovic finished with 33 unforced errors to 15 by Azarenka.