Serena Captures 9th Grand Slam, 3rd US OPEN!

September 7th, 2008 New York City, USA

The Women's Final was held one day and one hour later than usual because of horrible weather on Saturday. So Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic took the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium to compete for the coveted US Open championship. It marked Williams fouth final at the US Open, winning in 1999 and 2002, and losing to sister Venus in the final in 2001. For Jelena it was her first ever Grand Slam final.

The first set was all Williams, quickly using controlled aggression to get up to a 5-2 lead. Jankovic had other plans and halted Williams slightly, getting back to 5-4. But Serena held strong and finally one the first set 6-4. When she moved up 1-0 in the second set, it all seemed to be going downhill for the Serbian. However to Jankovic's credit she was poised and held herself tough out there, better than a lot of first time Slam finalists do. At one point Jankovic was leading 5-3 in the second set and even had a 0-40 lead on Serena's serve. Three set points, but all evaporated and Serena was up 6-5 in an instant. It was there where Serena had enough and won the championship 7-5. For Serena, it was a long road back from here Australian Open in 2007. It was also her second consecutive Grand Slam final in over 5 years. With the win, Serena Williams ties Monica Seles with 9 Grand Slam titles. Also Serena is now the number 1 player in the world. For Jankovic she can take credit for making the US Open final and playing a great match. Now the world waits till January for the Australian Open.

Results:

Arthur Ashe Stadium:

(4)Serena Williams d. (2)Jelena Jankovic - 6-4, 7-5
Top 10 Seeds:

1. Ana Ivanovic - Lost in Round 2 (Coin)
2. Jelena Jankovic - Lost in Finals (S. Williams)
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Lost in Round 3 (Srebotnik)
4. Serena Williams - CHAMPION
5. Elena Dementieva - Lost in Semi-Finals (Jankovic)
6. Dinara Safina - Lost in Semi-Finals (S. Williams)
7. Venus Williams - Lost in Quarter-Finals (S. Williams)
8. Vera Zvonareva - Lost in Round 2 (Perebiynis)
9. Agnieszka Radwanska - Lost in Round of 16 (V. Williams)
10. Anna Chakvetadze - Lost in Round 1 (Makarova)