NEW YORK -- Jelena Jankovic made it to her first grand-slam final and Serena Williams ended the five-year drought of American women in the U.S. Open decider as they won their semifinals in straight sets Friday.
Both overcame Russian opponents: Jankovic beat Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-4 while Williams downed Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2.
It will be Williams' 12th Grand Slam final, and Jankovic's first, and in addition to the silver trophy at stake, the winner will rise to No. 1 in the rankings next week.
"Overall, she's the strongest player on the tour, together with her sister," said the second-seeded Jankovic. "Nobody has the power that they have. We cannot compare."
The final is scheduled for Saturday night, but forecasts of rain prompted tournament organizers to announce contingency plans that could include postponing the match until Sunday.
"I'm ready to play tomorrow. Hopefully we can," Serena said. "If not, I'll be ready for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday -- doesn't matter."
It will be Williams' first appearance in a U.S. Open final since she won it in 2002, and no American had made it since. It is also nine years since her first final at Flushing Meadow, which she won as a 17-year-old.
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| 'I want to win a Grand Slam, this is why I came here,' Jelena Jankovic says. (Getty Images) |
She got off to a shaky start against Safina. Broken in her first service game, Williams fell behind 2-0, but won seven of the next eight games, eventually doing a much better job than Safina of dealing with a gusty wind.
Safina wound up with 41 unforced errors, and repeatedly rolled her eyes, shook her head or shouted at herself in English or Russian, much the way her brother and former U.S. Open champion Marat Safin does. After hitting her fifth double-fault of the match she yelled, "I hate the wind!" Two points after that, Safina pushed a backhand long and Williams broke to lead 2-1 in the second set.
"I was behaving like a really spoiled girl," Safina said.
The whipping air played havoc with serve tosses -- the women combined for 11 double-faults -- and all manner of other strokes. The U.S. flag at one end of Arthur Ashe Stadium rippled so loudly that Safina turned to glare at it before one serve.
"I thought, 'OK, if it's so windy, then I'm not going to go for so many winners," said Williams, who didn't produce her first winning forehand until the match was 30 minutes old.
