Jankovic almost quit tennis

Maybe she is here to stay, maybe not - but she has been improving her game all summer. But just a few months ago, Jelena Jankovic almost gave up tennis for school.

Jankovic, the 19th seed, defeated No. 4 Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-1 to earn a berth in the semifinals on Friday. She faces the winner of tonight's Justine Henin-Hardenne vs. Lindsay Davenport match. Henin-Hardenne is the second seed.

Jankovic completed her 62-minute victory before light rain descended upon the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, causing the suspension of play at approximately 1:20 p.m.

Jankovic lost 10 straight matches earlier this year and was considering returning to school. But she's rolled through the Open to reach the semis for the first time in her career.

Having already dismissed No. 9 Nicole Vaidisova and No. 6 and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jankovic broke Dementieva in all seven of the Russian's service games, overcame three breaks of her own serve and four break chances in the final game.

Dementieva had more winners than Jankovic, 16-6, but also had five double faults and no aces in the 62-minute match. The Russian also had 39 unforced errors compared to 16 for Jankovic, who had never reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal before this week.

Jankovic had lost in three sets to Dementieva in the Los Angeles final earlier this summer.

"I mean, it's amazing," Jankovic said of her rout. "Especially [after how] we played in L.A. She beat me 6-4 in the third. We played for like two hours and a half. Was such a tough match. Today I expected as well to have a tough, tough battle.

"But I don't know what happened. I was just playing quite solid, playing aggressively, didn't allow her to play her game. I was also returning well," she said.
ESPN