KEY POINTS:
Typical. You wait ages for a Williams sister to come along and then one arrives after another.
Justine Henin had not played Serena or Venus Williams for four years until she met the former in Miami in March, but in today's semifinals of the US Open she will
attempt to become only the second player, following Martina Hingis at the 2001 Australian Open, to beat both sisters in the same tournament.
Twenty-four hours after Serena lost to Henin in the quarter-finals for the third Grand Slam tournament in succession, Venus earned the chance to uphold family honour by beating Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-1, 7-6. Williams has beaten Henin in their last seven meetings, although the most recent was four years ago. Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze meet in the other semifinal.
The third coming of Venus is proving even more extraordinary than her 2005 comeback, when she became the lowest ranked woman (No 16) to win Wimbledon. She topped that by reclaiming the Venus Rosewater Dish two months ago as the world No 31 and has now put together her best run here since 2002.
Jankovic has been the year's most consistent female player behind Henin, but when Williams plays as she did against her, the 27-year-old American looks all but unstoppable. She hit nine aces, serving up to 124mph, belted 60 winners and, most tellingly of all, played 55 of the 213 points at the net. Jankovic, who had beaten Williams in their three previous meetings, came to the net only six times.
One point summed up Jankovic's task. Williams had come forward behind a moderate approach, but she threw herself to her left to return the Serb's attempted passing shot. Her volley was short and she had left a wide gap on her forehand flank, but when the world No 3 went cross-court Venus leapt across to volley a winner. Jankovic, whose sportsmanship is so refreshing, applauded, her face a mixture of admiration and disbelief.
Williams said she had never lost her self-belief through her lean years and wanted to take her Grand Slam titles (six) into double figures. "I look forward to the future because I love winning, I love competing. I love what I do," she said.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Spaniard David Ferrer rolled into the US Open semifinals for the first time in their careers with dominating last-eight victories yesterday.
Third seed Djokovic reached his third Grand Slam semifinal of the year with a 6-4, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Spain's Carlos Moya, and now faces Ferrer for a place in Monday's (NZT) final.
Djokovic was just 11 when Moya, 31, won his lone major at the French Open in 1998.
In the crucial second set tiebreaker, Djokovic, 20, survived a set point to win 9-7 and take control of the match, lasting two hours 18 minutes. "I knew that Carlos was a very good player, a competitor, a former number one. He has a lot of experience on the big matches on the big courts.
"He had a great tournament but luckily I played my best tennis ."
Ferrer, the 15th seed who accounted for compatriot Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, achieved his best result in a major with a 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 win over Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela.
Ferrer becomes only the fourth Spaniard to make the last four at the US Open in the Open era.
In the other semifinal, world No 1 Roger Federer will battle fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko.
Semifinals
* Women
1-Justine Henin (Belgium) v 12-Venus Williams (US)
4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) v 6-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia)
* Men
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) v 4-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)
3-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v 15-David Ferrer (Spain)
- Independent / Reuters