By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 6, 2008
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y., Sept. 5 -- Since she stormed into the elite ranks of her sport in 1999, Serena Williams has shattered conventional notions of what is possible in women's tennis by brandishing the most punishing groundstrokes, the most defiant fighting spirit and the most daring fashions.
Friday at the U.S. Open, however, Williams achieved her latest triumph with restraint, reining in her vaunted power to steamroll past Dinara Safina, 6-3, 6-2, on a day in which gusting winds made high-risk tennis a foolish proposition.
With the victory, Williams advanced to her first U.S. Open final since 2002, when she won the coveted title a second time by defeating her elder sister Venus.
Having spoiled Venus's title hopes again in this year's quarterfinals, Serena now confronts one final hurdle: Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, who advanced to her first major final with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Russia's Elena Dementieva earlier Friday.
Neither Serena Williams nor Jankovic needs to search for motivation on Saturday. Serena, 26, chafed bitterly over her straight-set loss to Venus in this year's Wimbledon final, irked that the countless hours invested in regaining her fitness had amounted to nothing.
With a victory Saturday, Serena would claim the ninth major title of her career (two more than Venus) and her first since January 2007.
For Jankovic, arguably the hardest-working woman in the game, a victory would fulfill a life's dream. Just 23, she has amassed a career's worth of injuries in recent years, pushing herself up the world rankings by entering tournament after tournament with precious few weeks off.
But there is an extra reward in store. Whoever wins will assume the No. 1 ranking.
Regardless of the outcome, Serena Williams has achieved a remarkable resurgence this year. After bumping Venus from the world's No. 1 ranking in 2002, she battled injury and apparent indifference in the years that followed, tumbling to an all-but-irrelevant 140th in 2006.
Should Williams hoist her third U.S. Open trophy this weekend, she would reclaim her No. 1 ranking for the first time since August 2003.
Williams credited the turnaround to a newfound commitment, alluding to her family's encouragement to rededicate herself to the sport.
"I've just been way more consistent, playing a lot more and just putting in the effort," she said. "I'm here to stay."
In addition, Williams is a far wiser player than she was at 18, when she won her first U.S. Open.
It was evident in the way she adapted to Friday's maddening conditions while Safina, 22, let everything annoy her -- the wind, her racket, her failure to keep the ball in the court (she finished with 41 errors to Williams's 21).
"I was behaving like a really spoiled girl on the court today," Safina said.
Williams hardly started the match in championship form. But rather than come unglued as her double faults mounted, she took pace off her serve and added an extra margin of error on her groundstrokes.
From an 0-2 start, she won six of the next seven games.
Safina, meantime, risked more and raged over every mistake, castigating herself and the elements in English and Russian alike.
Williams was even more effective in the second set, playing high-percentage tennis while keeping the pressure on. She charged the net at opportune moments to cut rallies short. She even drilled Safina in the chest when the Russian attempted a volley of her own.
Williams apologized at the net afterward.
"She behaved like a champion," Safina said with admiration. "She was there, and she was fighting with me. I was fighting with everything around except her. I will learn from this."
Earlier Friday, Jankovic came from behind in both sets to defeat Dementieva. Like Williams, the Serb proved the steadier player, committing half the errors, as well as half the winners, as her opponent.
She was helped by Dementieva's notorious weakness, a serve that fails her at critical moments. A two-time Grand Slam finalist, Dementieva had made great strides in the last year, retooling her serve and winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing.
At the U.S. Open she hadn't lost a set until Friday. But Jankovic was the more dogged fighter, racing around the court to slam balls back until Dementieva committed the error.
That sort of tenacity has earned Jankovic the respect of her peers, Williams included. They have split their two meetings this year, and Williams seemed eager to toss up the first ball again, insisting she had nothing to lose Saturday.
"I'm going against someone that is ranked higher than me," Williams said of the second-ranked Jankovic. "She has a lot of pressure to win her first Grand Slam."
As for herself, Williams seemed certain that Saturday won't be her last opportunity to add to her collection of major titles.
"I've always felt like my game is suited to withstand a long time," Williams said. "I feel like I've just started again."
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