By Simon Cambers
NEW YORK, Sept 4 - Women's semi-finals day will
have added spice to it at the U.S. Open on Friday with the
carrot of the number one ranking looming large over the four
remaining protagonists.
American Serena Williams, Russians Dinara Safina and Elena
Dementieva and Serbian Jelena Jankovic can all replace another
Serbian, Ana Ivanovic, at the top of the rankings by winning
the title in New York.
Of more immediate concern to all of them will be earning a
place in the final, with Williams chasing her ninth grand slam
title and the other three closing on their first.
Having defeated her sister Venus in a high-quality
quarter-final, fourth seed Williams is the obvious favourite
but she will have her hands full against Safina, the most
in-form player on the women's tour.
The Russian sixth seed has reached the final in six of her
past seven events, and was runner-up at both the French Open
and Olympics.
The 26-year-old Williams, however, has been hard to derail
this close to the big prize, having won 11 of her previous 13
grand slam semi-finals, and Safina admitted beating her will be
a tough task.
"First of all, she is a great fighter and she's very
dominant on the court," Safina, 22, said about Serena.
"She likes to put pressure on the players, so that's why it
makes her a very tough opponent."
The quarter-final meeting between the Williams sisters
could easily have been a final, as it was at Wimbledon this
year, and Serena said she would have to focus against Safina.
"I feel like I should have a trophy now," she said after
Wednesday's thrilling quarter-final. "Unfortunately I don't,
and I have to go to the next round.
"I don't want to go out in the next round, especially not
after that."
Serena has won three of four matches against the Russian,
but Safina prevailed in their last meeting, on clay in the
quarter-finals this season in Berlin.
In the other semi-final, Olympic champion and fifth seed
Dementieva takes on second seed Jankovic, who is looking to
reach her first grand slam final.
Dementieva, the Open runner-up in 2004, has yet to drop a
set in the tournament and has spent three hours less on court
than Jankovic, who was made to fight much harder than expected
in the early stages.
"I'm very excited to be in the semis, but I'm sure I need
to improve my game and play a better match if I want to go to
the final," Dementieva, 26, said after her quarter-final
demolition of Swiss 15th seed Patty Schnyder.
Jankovic leads her personal series against Dementieva 4-3,
though she also lost to her Open semi-final opponent in this
year's Berlin quarters.
After an impressive win over Austrian Sybille Bammer in the
previous round, Jankovic said she was beginning to feel good.
"In the beginning of the tournament, I was really not
feeling that great, because I wasn't able to practice,"
Jankovic, 23, said.
"I was injured at the Olympics and throughout most of the
year. So of course I couldn't expect for myself to be at the
top of my game and in top shape.
"But I'm willing to work hard and trying to get better
every day, and I'm really happy how I'm doing, how I'm
progressing, how I'm developing."
(Editing by Larry Fine)