SERBIAN Jelena Jankovic battled into the final of the US Open with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over fifth seed Elena Dementieva in a blustery encounter last night.
The second seed came from behind in both sets to reach her first grand slam final, where she will play American fourth seed Serena Williams or sixth seed Dinara Safina of Russia, who were meeting in the late match.
"As you can see I have tears in
my eyes, I am little bit emotional to be in the final," Jankovic said in a courtside interview. "I played something like five semis so to be in the final of a grand slam for the first time, I'm thrilled."
Olympic champion Dementieva, the 2004 runner-up, broke in the first game and holding the advantage to 4-2 only for Jankovic to win four straight games to take the set.
The Russian again surged ahead in the second, but after a series of breaks, Jankovic snatched the vital break in the 10th game to seal her place in the final.
Dementieva as in the ascendancy early on but Jankovic was scrapping for every ball and some brilliant retrieving helped her to break back for 4-4. The wind was causing both players all sorts of problems and Jankovic took advantage of a host of errors from Dementieva to hold and then break again to take the set.
Dementieva showed her fighting spirit by breaking serve to lead 2-1 in the second.
Jankovic hit back immediately and the players then traded another break as the set reached 4-4. The Serbian held serve in the ninth game to force Dementieva to serve to stay in the match but the Russian could not manage it and her 42nd unforced error of the match sealed Jankovic's place in the final for the first time.
"I was really fighting. It was very very windy, and Elena is a great champion and a great player, she was running me everywhere so I was just trying to run them down and get the balls back. I'm just really happy, happy to be in the final."
The full article contains 364 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
