STARS DON'T MAKE IT TO THE FINAL SERENA, SHARAPOVA BOTH UPSET IN SEMIS.

Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL Staff Writer

CARSON -- It was too good to be true.

The two most popular players in women's tennis squaring off in an electric JPMorgan Chase Open final. That doesn't happen in Los Angeles.

Inevitably, something had to go wrong on semifinal Saturday at Home Depot Center. But this was a total disaster.

No Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova. No Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova.

Williams never seemed in the match in a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. That wasn't unexpected. Williams, in her second tournament coming back from a knee injury, had been flirting with defeat the previous two rounds.

Sharapova, unchallenged all week and playing some of the best tennis of her career, suddenly fell apart in a 7-5, 6-2 loss to fellow Russian Elena Dementieva.

With a Williams-Sharapova final, women's tennis for once would have been the hot ticket in town, maybe even drawing in a few A-list Hollywood celebrities.

Instead, third-seeded Dementieva will take on 16th-seeded Jankovic at 2 p.m. today, a matchup that probably won't even attract reality TV stars.

Sharapova, the attractive 19-year-old who has a home in Manhattan Beach, seemed a lock for the final. The top seed had won eight matches in a row, including the championship last week at the Acura Classic in San Diego, and had dominated Dementieva 5-1 in their previous meetings.

All those matches took their toll. Playing an early afternoon match following Friday's night stint, she came out tired and flat.

``I felt like my body did not respond like it normally does,'' Sharapova said. ``I have played nine matches in the last 13 days. That pretty much sums it up. I have not played this much in a while.''

Sharapova fell behind 5-1 in the first set, though she battled back to fight off four set points and tie it at 5-5. After all that, she was broken at love in the 12th game.

She again tried to rebound after going down 5-2 in the second set, saving six match points, all with winners, before succumbing on a backhand long. Sharapova had 46 unforced errors.

``I thought that I could maybe put a game or two together, but then I'd just deflate,'' Sharapova said. ``Especially on serve, I felt like I wasn't going up to hit the ball. I just basically was trying to get it in because my legs don't want to go up.''

Williams, who grew up in Compton, dropped the opening set for the third match in a row. It looked like she had the start of another comeback when she got three break points in the first game of the second set. But Jankovic managed to hold, and Williams never again threatened.

``I still believe I'm going in the right direction,'' Williams said. ``I'm definitely doing better than in my first week back. It's nice to have another tournament under my belt.''

When it comes to women's tennis in Los Angeles, disappointment is the norm.

Last year, a huge portrait of Williams on the side of a building off the I-405 freeway advertised the tournament. The only problem was Williams withdrew days before its start, along with another Southern California-bred player in Lindsay Davenport. Then Sharapova couldn't make her quarterfinal match because of an injury.

The JPMorgan Chase Open is the only professional women's tennis event left in the area since the WTA Championships bolted Staples Center for Spain after three years of poorly attended matches.

In a telling sign about the state of women's tennis in Los Angeles, the most-watched match on stadium court this week has been an exhibition between men's tennis greats Pete Sampras and Jim Courier on Monday night.

Sharapova vs. Williams, two former top-ranked players in a rematch of the 2004 Wimbledon final, would have been huge for a sport fledgling to generate interest in the city.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Serena Williams can't catch up to the ball in her semifinal loss at the JPMorgan Chase Open.

(2) Jelena Jankovic celebrates her win over Serena Williams at the JPMorgan Chase Open.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer