Paris success means future looks bright for Serbia

PARIS, June 6 (Reuters) Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic will be cheering on Novak Djokovic today when he aims to become the third Serbian player into the French Open semi-finals.

Their performances at Roland Garros this year have confirmed Serbia as a new force in world tennis and it is not too fanciful a notion that all three of them could make the finals here.

In-form Jankovic, the fourth seed here, has been the form player on the women's tour this year with three titles and she underlined her title credentials with a 6-3 7-5 defeat of Czech Nicole Vaidisova yesterday.

''Wherever you go you just see Serbians all over the place, winning all these matches it's incredible,'' said the 22-year-old Jankovic, who faces top seed Justine Henin in her second grand slam semi-final.

''Hopefully Novak can get to the semis as well and it will be a great achievement for Serbia.'' Ivanovic, who is three years younger than Jankovic, takes on Maria Sharapova in the semi-finals after beating last year's runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0 3-6 6-1.

She will be contesting a last-four match at a grand slam for the first time -- a far cry from the days when she used to have to practise at 7 am during the NATO bombing of Belgrade in 1999.

''It's very exciting to see all of us doing so well,'' the 19-year-old told reporters. ''Especially as we are all very young, so we all have many years in front of us and many possibilities. I'm sure people back home are very proud of us.'' Ivanovic says she has more contact with Djokovic, who plays Russian Igor Andreev today, because Jankovic moved to Florida to develop her tennis career.

''I've known him for a very long time, so it's nice to catch up,'' she said.

The bad news for the rest of the tennis world is that Jankovic and Ivanovic look like becoming a potent force in the Fed Cup.

''We have a good team, and we deserve a place in the world group, and that would be a great step for our country,'' she said. ''I would love to play a Fed Cup, and, yeah, play for my country again.'' REUTERS TB PM1000