Jankovic defeats Dementieva as rain interrupts ninth day

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro kisses a tennis ball after defeating Elena Dementieva of Russia during their quarter-final at the 2006 US Open tournament in Flushing Meadows, New York, on Tuesday. PHOTO: EPA

Rain out the ninth day of the US Open on Tuesday as one women's singles match was completed and two more main draw encounters started but were left in limbo.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva in straight sets to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final before the showers hit at 1:35pm forcing the others off the court and into the locker-rooms.

Russian seed Nikolay Davydenko was two sets to one up (6-1, 5-7, 6-3) against Britain's Andy Murray in a fourth round tie while another Russian, Marat Safin, was 2-1 up in the first set against Germany's Tommy Haas.

With weather forecasters calling for continued showers overnight the remainder of the day program and the evening schedule featuring top seed Roger Federer was also postponed.

Federer slated to play world No. 79 Marc Gicquel of France on the main Stadium.

But the bad weather certainly didn't dampen the spirits of 19-year-old Jankovic who was bubbling with excitement after her stunning upset of 2004 finalist Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-2, 6-1.

It was the second-straight upset in as many days for Jankovic who looked nothing like the player who dropped nine straight matches between January and May.

"I am happy I pulled it through," Jankovic said. "I'm so excited to be in the semi-finals.

Dementieva, the runner-up at Flushing Meadows and in the French Open two years ago, had five double faults and 39 unforced errors.

Jankovic, the 15th seed from Serbia, will meet one of two former champions Lindsay Davenport (1998) or Justine Henin-Hardenne (2003) for a place in the final.

Jankovic the quarter-finals by dismantling former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2.

The heavily-favoured Federer will have at least one more day of waiting before squaring off against Gicquel as he bids to become the first player in the Open Era to complete the Wimbledon-US Open sweep for the third consecutive year.