NEW YORK – There will be a little something extra on the line when Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams battle for the US Open women’s singles title. Like, the world number one ranking.
“Number one is not my goal right now,” Williams said Friday. “I know I’ll get that eventually if I continue to play the tournaments. I just want to be able to win the Grand Slams and play and stay healthy. And I think the ranking will definitely come.”
Williams and Jankovic took their spots in the final with straight-set semifinal victories, Jankovic stopping Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva 6-4 6-4 before Williams ended Dinara Safina’s excellent summer 6-3 6-2.
The winner will take over the top spot in the rankings.
Thanks to Tropical Storm Hanna, when the final will be played is anyone’s guess. The weather forecast for New York called for rain Saturday morning, then beginning again late Saturday afternoon and continuing through the night.
The women’s final, which normally is played Saturday evening, is now scheduled for Sunday night, assuming both Saturday sessions are rained out.
“For me it doesn’t matter,” Jankovic said about the possibility of playing the final on Sunday. “Just whenever I play, I’m going to play. I’m going to be there. I’m going to try my best, and that’s all I care about, even if it’s tomorrow or next day or in a week.”
US Open officials said they hope to start the men’s semifinals an hour earlier than usual on Saturday. Roger Federer, trying to win his fifth consecutive US Open, will face Novak Djokovic in a repeat of last year’s title match, while top-seeded Rafael Nadal, going after his third straight Grand Slam tournament title, takes on Andy Murray.
The only weather Jankovic and Williams had to deal with in their semifinals was the wind. They easily solved that and any problems their opponents presented, Jankovic by forcing Dementieva to always have to hit one more shot, Williams by simply overpowering Safina, who reached the French Open final before capturing the summer US Open Series.
The second-ranked Jankovic lost her serve to open the match, and then fell behind 2-0 when Dementieva held. Twice Jankovic powered her shot down the line for what she thought were winners, only to have the wind push the ball out by inches. Both times Jankovic challenged the call unsuccessfully.
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Dementieva, who like Jankovic has never won a Grand Slam tournament, was sharp, finding the corners and serving well. Then everything fell apart.
That came because Jankovic, who ran down everything, kept the ball in play and forced Dementieva to hit yet another return. That’s when the errors began creeping into the Russian’s game, as well as double-faults.
“I couldn’t close the point,” Dementieva said. “I was trying to play aggressively, but I couldn’t make the last one. She was playing everything back to me.”
Dementieva had 42 unforced errors and six double-faults. While Jankovic had only 13 winners, compared to 24 by her Russian opponent, she made only 22 unforced errors and double-faulted only once.
Jankovic, who spent one week atop the world’s rankings even though she had never advanced past the semifinals in the four major events, trailed 2-4 before reeling off the last four games of the opening set. When she closed out the victory, she was in her first Grand Slam tournament final, although she has been a semifinalist in three of the year’s majors.
“I really want to do well,” Jankovic said. “I’m healthy. I’m really focused. I really believe in myself, and I’m really going one match at a time.
“I want to win a Grand Slam. This is why I came here.”
Like Jankovic, Williams started in a 0-2 hole. No problem.
“I was 2-love up with a break, but she behaved like a champion,” Safina said.
It was another dominating performance by Williams, who was ranked fourth in the world earlier this summer but had moved into the number three spot by the time the US Open began. She has yet to lose a set in her six matches, and was only tested in the quarterfinals when she collided with her sister, beating Venus 7-6 (6) 7-6 (7).
Serena played smart tennis, forcing the action without taking chances. She only hit 16 winners, five fewer than Safina, but had 20 fewer unforced errors.
Safina was visibly concerned about the windy conditions. But she was facing Williams on the other side of the net, not the wind.
“She also had some wind problems,” Safina said of Williams, who is seeking her first US Open title since 2002 and the eighth Grand Slam tournament title of her career. “But she was there and fighting with me. I was fighting with everything around except her.
“So I think this I can learn really good from her, how to handle these situations.”
Serena’s last major championship came at the Australian Open in 2007, and the last time she was in a Grand Slam tournament final was at Wimbledon earlier this summer, where she lost to Venus Williams.
“I don’t feel expected to win,” Serena said. “I feel expected to show up and, you know, do the best that I can do, and I feel like I have nothing to lose. I’m going against someone that’s ranked higher than me.
“She has a lot of pressure to win her first Grand Slam, and I’m just enjoying every moment.”
