Emotions run high in Ivanovic's semifinal victory

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, yesterday, Jelena Jankovic, who mocked the gesture at least twice, drawing guffaws from fans.

There was plenty 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 tomorrow's championship match against 13th-seeded Dinara Safina. The younger sister of two-time major champion Marat Safin beat No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3, 6-2, to reach her first Grand Slam final.

The men's semifinals today 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 by 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 last 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.

Jankovic was limited by a right forearm injury that bothered her so much earlier in the tournament that she flew home to Belgrade to visit her doctor. She began the semifinal with a bandage wrapped around the arm, but took it off while trailing in the second set.

Safina's lack of big-match experience certainly didn't hurt against Kuznetsova, who entered the day 3-0 in major semifinals. Neither played particularly well - 46 of 122 points ended with unforced errors. There also were seven breaks of serve in the first 11 games.

"I was too tight," Kuznetsova said, "and she was too confident."