KEY POINTS:
The vibes are good that Auckland's international women's tennis tournament will be around for a few years to come.
And if it produces more finals of the quality served up by Jelena Jankovic and Vera Zvonareva confirmation cannot come soon enough.
With the fate of the ASB Classic
in the balance beyond next year, it was timely that top seed Jankovic and fifth-seeded Russian Zvonareva served up a treat on Saturday.
Serb Jankovic justified her world No 12 ranking with a 7-6 (11-9), 5-7, 6-3 win in an enthralling 2h 44 min. It was the best final in 11 years of the Classic, keeping the full house rapt.
And both players made the point they want to be back next year. Auckland's two events, the Classic and the men's Heineken Open, starting today, are well regarded on the international circuit.
Players put the word about that Auckland is a good place to start the year and its record of putting on well-run events can't hurt their case when they plead for the right to continue after the WTA restructures to two levels, rather than four from 2009.
The players did their bit on Saturday, producing a final of high class. It would have been worthwhile putting a monitor on the pair to see how many kilometres they covered.
There were passages of brilliance, more from Jankovic but Zvonareva had her moments, notably when she came to the net and, on a couple of occasions, hit perfectly placed lobs that stranded the Serb.
They conjured up a gripping tiebreak in the first set in which Zvonareva squandered two set points and Jankovic won it with her third.
Zvonareva resembled a wall. She'd figured out the way to stay with Jankovic was keep the rallies going, banking on her opponent losing patience. It worked at times, the relentlessness of Zvonareva wearing Jankovic down.
The key moment came at 1-1 in the decider when Zvonareva was gobsmacked when a serve by Jankovic was called in.
Zvonareva muttered to the linesman: "Where were you looking?" She dropped her serve to love in the next game and that was that.
"I wasn't happy about that but it happens. Sometimes we are wrong, sometimes they are wrong. It's okay," she said afterwards.
Neither player left any doubt what was in their minds throughout the match. Zvonareva seemed to have voices in her head at times while Jankovic made regular use of the rueful smile. The character of the pair added to a memorable occasion.
"It's going to give me more confidence. It's always nice to start the year with a title," 21-year-old Jankovic said, her ambition to crack the top 10 not hurt by her win.
"I worked really hard in the off season and that work is paying off. I think I can beat anybody and I've shown I can compete with the best."
In a vastly different contest, Paola Suarez of Argentina and Slovak Janette Husarova romped to the doubles title. The top seeds beat Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei and India's Shikha Uberoi 6-0 6-2 in less than an hour.
It was former world No 1 doubles player Suarez's 43rd doubles crown in a fine career, which is winding down this year, and her first in Auckland on her sixth trip here.