Dallas, USA, 24 August 2012 | Tennis Australia

Casey Dellacqua fought bravely but ultimately succumbed to No.2 seed Jelena Jankovic at the Texas Tennis Open on Thursday night.

Playing in her first career WTA semifinal, the Australian forced Jankovic to work for more than one hour and 40 minutes before going down 7-5 6-4.

Dellacqua was hurt by her serve, dishing up four double faults and no aces, and barely clearing 50 per cent on her first serve percentage.

The win sends the Serbian into the final in Dallas, where she will meet third seed Roberta Vinci. Vinci routed Jankovic’s compatriot Bojana Jovanovski 6-0 6-0.

Overall however it was a fantastic week for Dellacqua, who heads to the US Open full of confidence and with a projected ranking of around the No.90-mark, her highest in three years.

She had been drawn to face a qualifier in New York when the first round gets underway on Monday 27 August.