| GEO Sports | | Tennis: Jankovic, Dementieva book US Open semi-final showdown | Updated at: 0146 PST, Thursday, September 04, 2008
 NEW YORK: Second seed Jelena Jankovic and Olympic champion Elena Dementieva, both seeking their first Grand Slam title, advanced to a US Open semi-final showdown with straight-set victories Tuesday.
Jankovic ousted Austrian Sybille Bammer 6-1, 6-4 in 90 minutes, moving the 23-year-old Serbian within a win of her first Slam final, while Russian fifth seed Dementieva rolled over Swiss 15th seed Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-3 in just 76 minutes.
Jankovic owns a 4-3 career edge on Dementieva as each approaches her fifth career Slam semi-final on Friday. Jankovic has yet to win one but has earned her Russian rival's respect.
Other quarter-finals Wednesday will pair fourth seed Serena Williams and her seventh-seeded sister Venus, who have split 16 meetings, plus sixth seed Dinara Safina and Italian 16th seed Flavia Pennetta, who is 0-4 against the Russian.
Jankovic's victory ensured someone will replace Serbia's Ana Ivanovic atop the WTA rankings. Top seed Ivanovic lost to French qualifier Julie Coin in the second round. Jankovic could retake the top spot she had for a week in August.
"It would be nice to regain the number one ranking but my goal is to win a Grand Slam. I would love to do something special here."
Dementieva, Safina and Serena Williams also could be number one on Monday.
"There is no number one, a real number one," Dementieva said. "The most consistent player is Jelena Jankovic for the moment. Maybe the competition is too tough. It's wide open for a few players." |  |
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