PARIS — If official statistics were tallied for fist pumps and self-exhortations during Grand Slam matches, Ana Ivanovic might well have established a record while winning her French Open semifinal.
Perhaps Ivanovic did not raise a clenched hand and let out a yelp after each of the 96 points she earned. It sure did seem that way to the woman she beat 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Thursday, Jelena Jankovic, who mocked the gesture at least twice, drawing guffaws from fans.
Plenty was at stake, and nerves clearly were raw.
The winner was assured of replacing Maria Sharapova at No. 1 in the rankings, in addition to earning a berth in Saturday’s championship match against 13th-seeded Dinara Safina. The younger sister of two-time major champion Marat Safin followed up her twin escape-from-match-point-down, three-set upsets of Sharapova and No. 7 Elena Dementieva with a straightforward 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach her first Grand Slam final.
“I won in two sets,” Safina said with a smile. “That’s strange for me.”
The men’s semifinals Friday feature No. 1 Roger Federer vs. unseeded Gael Monfils, and No. 2 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 3 Novak Djokovic.
The No. 2-seeded Ivanovic and No. 3 Jankovic produced a seesaw struggle filled with stretches of alternately brilliant and bad play by two women who are both from Serbia but hardly best friends.
“The match was really emotional,” said Ivanovic, twice a finalist at majors but never a champion.
Jankovic led 3-0 at the start. Ivanovic, though, won 16-of-18 points to end the first set, part of a six-game spurt.
Then Jankovic used a seven-game run to claim the second set and a 2-0 lead in the third. And, rising to the occasion, Ivanovic took the final three games.
“I let it slip away,” acknowledged the 23-year-old Jankovic, who was asked what she would do Thursday night and replied: “I will have some dinner and maybe get drunk.”
As for all of her fist pumps and shouts, Ivanovic explained: “It was a way to relieve . . . pressure, emotions I was feeling, and it worked well for me today. I didn’t think about it. It just came natural.”
Twice in the second set, Jankovic turned her back to Ivanovic and mimicked her uppercuts.
“For me, it’s really funny the way she does that, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean, each of us, we have our own way to, how to say, pump ourselves up. The way she does — I just imitated it,” said Jankovic, now 0-4 in Grand Slam semifinals.
“I saw her doing that, so that’s why I did it,” Jankovic said. “The crowd enjoyed it, for some reason.”
At a glance
The French Open on Thursday:
Women’s semifinals: No. 13 Dinara Safina of Russia def. No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-3, 6-2; No. 2 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia def. No. 3 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Stat of the day: 50 — Winners hit by Ivanovic on Thursday to help her reach the finals for the second consecutive year
Quote of the day: “If I have to die, I will have to die on the court.” —Dinara Safina, discussing Saturday’s final against Ivanovic
Men’s semifinals today: No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland vs. Gael Monfils of France; No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain vs. No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia
TV today: KUSA-9, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.; Tennis Channel, 2-9 p.m.
The Associated Press
