Serena Williams sweeps Jankovic in U.S. Open final

NEW YORK -- Serena Williams flung her racket straight up and jumped for joy, hopping and skipping and screaming and generally looking like someone who had just won her first Grand Slam title.

Nope. It sure had been a while, though.

Displaying the talent and tenacity that helped her dominate tennis earlier in the decade, Williams outlasted Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 Sunday night in a thrill-a-minute match chock full of marvelous strokes and momentum swings to win her third U.S. Open championship and ninth Grand Slam title.

And there was this "added bonus," as Williams termed it: She returns to No. 1 in the rankings.

As the women met at the net afterward, Williams felt compelled to say to Jankovic, "I'm sorry I got so excited."

It was Williams' first triumph at Flushing Meadows since 2002, and it guaranteed that the American will lead the rankings today for the first time since August 2003.

In the men's semifinals, sixth-seeded Andy Murray finished a stunning, rain-interrupted 6-2, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 victory to reach his first Grand Slam final and stop No. 1-ranked Rafael Nadal.

Trying to become the first British man to win a major tennis championship since Fred Perry at the 1936 U.S. Open, Murray will face four-time defending champion Roger Federer in the final to night.