SERENA Williams returned to US Open final for the first time in six years last night by sweeping away sixth-seeded Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2 in a windblown semi-final.
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 No 1 ranking also going to the winner. Jankovic defeat
ed 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.
When Safina hit her fifth double-fault of the match she yelled: "I hate the wind!" Two points after that, the Russian pushed a backhand long and Williams broke to lead 2-1 in the second set.
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.
Jankovic came from behind in both sets and said afterwards: "As you can see I have tears in my eyes, I am little bit emotional to be in the final.
"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.
"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 get the balls back. I'm just really happy, happy to be in the final."
The full article contains 395 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
