Serena runs away from Wozniacki in semifinals

NEW YORK (AP) - This one didn't come down to a foot fault, a referee's call or anything else that could've made Serena Williams mad.

In fact, if Williams was upset about anything Saturday night, it might have been that she didn't get much of a match.

In what was supposed to be her toughest test yet at the U.S. Open, Williams dominated top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals to move a win away from her 14th Grand Slam title.

Williams was back in the semifinals at Flushing for the first time since 2009 when, also on a Saturday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, she got called for a foot fault against Kim Clijsters, then went on a tirade against the referee that cost her match point.

An ugly moment she'd love to forget - sort of the same way Wozniacki would like to forget almost everything that happened on a worst-case-scenario night for her in the world's biggest tennis stadium.

Her loss left No. 9 Sam Stosur as the last player with a chance to stop Williams at a tournament in which she has lost a grand total of 29 games over six matches and hasn't dropped a set. Stosur beat Angelique Kerber 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 to reach her second Grand Slam final. They'll play today (1 p.m., KREM), with Williams going for her fourth U.S. Open championship on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It meant a lot to me to come out here as an American and still be in the tournament," Williams said. "I really wanted to play tomorrow. Such a special day for the United States, so I'm really excited."

Williams finished with 34 winners, compared to five for Wozniacki, though the real picture was painted early in the second set when Williams led 20-0 in that category.

That's typical of each players' game - Williams is about power and Wozniacki is about persistence - but the difference was glaring and the contest turned into a mismatch.

Djokovic, Nadal headed to men's final: Facing two match points against a beloved player whose name is already in the history books, Novak Djokovic clenched his jaw, nodded his head and flashed an ever-so-slight glimpse of a smile.

"I would lie if I say I didn't think I'm going to lose," Djokovic said.

Might as well go down swinging then, right?

He turned violently on a wide, 108 mph serve from Roger Federer for a cross-court, forehand winner that barely nicked the line. The fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium, ready to explode for a Federer victory, instead found themselves taking a cue from Djokovic - who raised his hands, asking them to pump up the volume, and give him a little more love.

About 10 minutes later, those fans were dancing with Djoko as he boogied at center court to celebrate an epic U.S. Open semifinal win - one in which he dug out of a two-set hole, then saved two match points to beat Federer for the second straight year.

Top-seeded Djokovic won 6-7 (7), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to improve to 63-2 on the year and set up a rematch in the final Monday against No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who beat No. 4 Andy Murray 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in the second semifinal.

In the first match, Djokovic completed only his second career comeback from two sets down, while Federer lost a two-set lead for the second time in less than three months after going 178-0 lifetime before this year's Wimbledon quarterfinals.

It all turned on one shot.

"The forehand return, I cannot explain to you because I don't know how it happened," Djokovic said. "I read his serve and I was on the ball and I had to hit it hard, and it got in."

Nadal beat Djokovic in the final last year, but Djokovic is 5-0 against the Spaniard this year. All the meetings have been in tournament finals, including Wimbledon. On Monday, Nadal must try to stop the losing streak against a player who will come into the final on the high of a win he called "one of the biggest wins of the career under the circumstances."

"He's obviously the favorite for the final, and I know I have to do something better than the other matches to try to change the situation," Nadal said.

Djokovic spent much of the first two sets shaking his head, commiserating with the folks in his players box, even folding his hands in mock prayer. Then, he turned things around suddenly and unexpectedly.

He got an early break in the third to capture the momentum, and as the match wore on, the prospect of Federer grabbing it back, let alone getting a match point, seemed bleak.

In the fourth set, Djokovic placed 16 of 20 of his first serves in and tore off his first 15 service points to easily push the match to the distance.

The fifth-set end-game started with Djokovic serving at 3-4 and stringing together an uncharacteristically bad game, getting broken at love on two mishit forehands, a framer of Federer's that set up a winner and a double fault on a second serve that missed the line by about a foot.

After missing a backhand to open his service game at 5-3, Federer hit three straight serves Djokovic couldn't get back. That gave him two match points, same as he had last year against Djokovic in the semifinals, and the fans were squarely on his side, as he stood oh-so-close to making his 24th Grand Slam final and moving a win away from adding to his record 16 Grand Slam titles.