September 5th, 2008 New York City, USA
The women's Semi-Finals were played on a windy, humid day in New York City, conditions that aren't favored for anyone. Jankovic and Safina each called out at least once in frustration at the wind, sharing the opinion of many who were in attendance at the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center. First up to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium were Elena Dementieva and Jelena Jankovic. Dementieva was looking to reach her third ever Grand Slam Final and second here after reaching her first back in 2004. For Jankovic, she was on a mission to try and reach her first Grand Slam final after failing to do so in four previous Semi-Final encounters at Grand Slams. Dementieva started more steady of the two players, getting an early break in the first set and leading 4-2 at one point. However on this windy day, Jankovic was doing a lot of retrieving which annoyed Dementieva and caused many errors and simply broke down the Russian. Jankovic went on a tear and won the first set 6-4. Dementieva could do nothing but think about how she lost the set. In the second set, the players traded four straight breaks of serve before Jankovic finally held. It was a more consistent set, Jankovic finally took the lead 5-4 and won the match, 6-4. It will be Jankovic's first Grand Slam Final.
The next match came out in arguably even windier conditions, which did not favor either Serena Williams or Dinara Safina. The Russian has had a dream season to date winning titles at Berlin, Los Angeles and Montreal and getting a Silver Medal at the Olympics, not to mention a Finalist showing at Roland Garros last June. Serena Williams hadn't been passed the Quarter-Finals of a Grand Slam since the Australian Open in 2007. She had something to prove, even if she didn't admit it. The match was going on serve until 4-3, when Serena broke to take a 5-3 lead. Williams was playing safe, consistent tennis while Safina was hitting unforced error after error. Williams won the first set 6-3. In a blink of an eye, Serena was up 5-1 in the second set before Safina held serve and made Williams serve out the match. Serena with great poise and determination did just that only needing 1 Match point to win. Williams is now in her fourth US Open championship match and will be looking for her third overall US Open and 9th Grand Slam. It won't be easy, with weather conditions looking to worsen, with a possible final on a windy Sunday instead. Williams and Jankovic are 3-3 in head to head's so it will be a tough match for either party, who will win? It's up to the weather and the better player on that day.
Results:
Arthur Ashe Stadium:
(2)Jelena Jankovic d. (5)Elena Dementieva - 6-4, 6-4
(4)Serena Williams d. (6)Dinara Safina - 6-3, 6-2
Top 10 Seeds:
1. Ana Ivanovic - Lost in Round 2 (Coin)
2. Jelena Jankovic - Finals
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Lost in Round 3 (Srebotnik)
4. Serena Williams - Finals
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)
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