U.S. Open | Serena Williams secures title, No. 1 status

NEW YORK — American Serena Williams flung her racket straight up and jumped for joy, hopping and skipping and screaming and generally looking like someone who had won her first U.S. Open title or earned her debut at No. 1 in the world rankings.

Nope.

It sure had been awhile, though.

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

"Every one is so exciting, believe me," Williams said. "This is cool because I'm at number nine. I'm pushing the doors closer to double digits, which of course I want to get to."

And there was this "added bonus," as Williams termed it: She returns to the top of the rankings.

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

Four times a single point from heading to a third set, Williams was relentless. She took the final four games and took the title without dropping a set. The closest she came to losing one? In the quarterfinal round, when she beat older sister Venus in two tiebreakers.

On this night, Venus was in the guest box, cheering for Serena.

"Serena was a better player tonight," Jankovic said. "She was just too good tonight."

It was Williams' first title triumph at Flushing Meadows since 2002, and it guaranteed she will lead the rankings today for the first time since August 2003 — the longest gap between stints at No. 1 for a woman.

Her previous Grand Slam title came in January 2007, at the Australian Open.

For Jankovic, it was her first Grand Slam final, and she seemed to be having the time of her life. She smiled even after losing points.

Jankovic was ranked No. 1 for one week last month and would have returned there by winning a title match that was postponed from Saturday night because of Tropical Storm Hanna.

"I felt I had her. I had her, because she was really tired at the end of the second set," the second-seeded Jankovic said of No. 4 Williams. "Who knows what would have happened if I had got into a third set? I probably would have had the upper hand. But who knows?"