Venus rallies to top Jankovic

She’ll get a chance at Justin Henin, who beat her sister.

NEW YORK (AP) — Venus Williams got her Grand Slam groove back just in time.

Way down Wednesday night, Williams turned her game on when she needed to, then got some help from a fading foe and beat No. 3-seeded Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (4) to return to the U.S. Open semifinals for the first time since 2002.

Williams was able to do what her sister, Serena, couldn’t in the quarterfinals the night before: overcome a daunting deficit against a top opponent. And now Venus will play the woman who beat Serena, No. 1 Justine Henin.

“I was so disappointed. I watched. More than anything, she’s my little sister, so watching her be upset is hard for me,” Venus Williams said. “I’ve got to play well Friday for her.”

In the other women’s semifinal, 2004 Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze, a matchup between two Russians.

Against Jankovic, the older Williams took a while to find the mark, falling behind by a set and a break. But by the end she was playing as well as she did en route to winning Wimbledon in July for her sixth Grand Slam title.

Jankovic made four unforced errors to allow Williams to take control in the tiebreaker. And the American ended it with a swinging forehand volley, an appropriate conclusion given that she made 55 trips to the net, winning 39 of those points. Jankovic was far less aggressive, pushing forward only six times.

Williams dictated play in general, finishing with a whopping 60-17 edge in winners.

Men’s side

On the men’s side, No. 4 -seeded Nikolay Davydenko continued his run, reaching the semifinals at Flushing Meadows for the second consecutive year by beating No. 10 Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Davydenko is at the center of tennis’ betting probe and will sit down with investigators in the coming weeks.

He again denied any involvement with gamblers and offered an explanation of what he thinks led to the red flags last month.

“I don’t care what’s happening out there,” Davydenko said, referring to the investigation. “For me, it’s more important what I do right now here.”

A British online gambling company voided all bets on Davydenko’s match against 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland in early August, after $7 million was wagered — 10 times the usual amount. Most of the money backed Arguello, even after Davydenko won the first set; the match went to a third set, and Davydenko quit with a foot injury.

His theory: Someone had inside information that he’d been hurting, and thought, “Sell all your houses and everything, you know, to win some money.”

He might be able to set that aside for the moment, but he won’t be able to get around this: His semifinal opponent will be No. 1 Roger Federer or No. 5 Andy Roddick, whose match Wednesday night was not completed in time for this edition.