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Serena Williams defeated Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2 in the U.S. Open semifinals Friday.

Safina didn’t go quietly, breaking at love to tie the second at 1-all. It was in the next game, though, that Safina couldn’t get out of the way after trying another drop shot that Williams sent back at her body.

Safina said that upset her, but she also acknowledged, “It’s all in the rules. I can only be angry with myself for hitting a bad drop shot.”

When they spoke after the match, Williams said: “I didn’t mean it, OK?”

“I was, you know, nearly mortified that I hit her,” Williams said later.

Jankovic, meanwhile, lost eight of the first nine points and fell behind 2-0 and 4-2. But as Dementieva became more tentative and more erratic, Jankovic reeled off five consecutive games to claim the first set and a 1-0 edge in the second.

Jankovic also trailed by a break at 3-2 in the second set, before coming back again. She got plenty of help — 42 of the 66 points Jankovic won came from unforced errors by the fifth-seeded Dementieva.

Jankovic entered the match with an 0-4 record in major semifinals, including losses at this year’s Australian Open and French Open. But she kept tracking down balls, running along the baseline and stretching her racket, extending points until Dementieva missed.

Several times, Jankovic wound up doing the splits at the end of a point. She sometimes would bend over to catch her breath between points, or stop to chat with spectators. When she got to set point in the first with Dementieva serving, Jankovic drew a time violation warning from chair umpire Lynn Welch for pausing to wipe away sweat with a towel.

The turning point might have come a little earlier, with Dementieva up 4-2 and love-30 on Jankovic’s serve. Two more points, and Dementieva would have served for the opening set.

Instead, this is how things went: Dementieva missed three service returns, and Jankovic’s backhand winner ended a 21-stroke point and the game. Dementieva began the next game by double-faulting, and eventually was broken when a 67 mph serve put her on the defensive.

“Mentally, I feel I’m a lot stronger, because I really believe in myself. I really want to do this, and it’s about time for me to make that step forward to break that barrier,” Jankovic said. “I want to win a Grand Slam, and this is why I came here.”

That’s why Williams came, too, of course.

“She has a lot of pressure to win her first Grand Slam,” Williams said, “and I’m just enjoying every moment.”

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