England, Jun 18: Former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia will play Melanie Oudin of the United States in the rain-delayed Aegon Classic final after both players won quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Sunday.
The final at the grass-court warmup for Wimbledon will be Jankovic's first in 10 months. She beat Misaki Doi of Japan 6-3, 6-4 in a quarterfinal that took three days to finish because of rain, and then rallied to beat China's Zheng Jie 6-7 (2), 7-5, 6-1.
“It's been a really difficult day at the office but a good one,” Jankovic said. “You spend 12 hours at the site just watching the rain out of the window. Even when it stopped, I still saw the rain.”
Oudin defeated Irina Falconi 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in an all-American quarterfinal and then rallied to down eighth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
The final will be staged on Monday for the second year in row.
Jankovic has recently been affected by fitness concerns, but she took advantage of Zheng's physical problems when her opponent took an injury timeout at the end of the second set to have her left thigh heavily strapped.
Jankovic, the 2007 Birmingham champion, will be looking for her first title in more than two years when she takes on Oudin, a former US Open quarterfinalist.
The Serb lost the last time she faced Oudin, at Wimbledon in 2009, and the 20-year-old from Georgia believes she has improved her game since then.
Oudin, who received a wild card into Wimbledon later Sunday, will be competing in her first WTA Tour final.
