Serena advances to final against Jankovic
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Serena Williams will return to the US Open final for the first time in six years after sweeping away sixth-seeded Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2 in a windblown semi-final in New York this morning (AEST).
The fourth-seeded American, who last played the Flushing Meadows title match in 2002 when she won her second US crown, will meet second seed Jelena Jankovic for the championship with the world number one ranking also going to the winner.
Jankovic defeated Olympic champion Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-4. 6-4 to advance to her first grand slam final.
Williams dealt best with blustery winds that blew groundstrokes wide and long, and played havoc with serve tosses that sometimes strayed too far to hit and ended up bouncing toward the net.
Russian Safina broke the 26-year-old Williams in the opening game of the match but soon became frustrated with the gusting winds arriving ahead of an expected storm front, shrieking after several of her 41 unforced errors.
Williams, who played with the same ferocity she showed in her quarter-final victory over sister Venus, will be trying to reclaim the number one ranking she last held six years ago.
-Reuters
