TheSportsCampus

It's Sister Act 23 as Venus and Serena Williams booked a place in the final of the year end Sony Ericsson Championships against one another with contrasting win in the semi-finals. Serena needed just 45 minutes to quell the challenge of 19-year old Dane Caroline Wozniacki, who ran out of gas at the end of a tiring week, while defending champion Venus made the final the hard way, taking out former world no.1 Jelena Jankovic in over two and a half hours in a repeat of last year's semi-final.

The Venus - Jankovic contest was the first of the two semi-finals, with Jelena coming into the match with a narrow 5-4 lead in their head-to-head duels. Jankovic's form however had been anything but exemplary this year, barely making it into this tournament in 8th and last place, and reaching the semis more due to being in the right place at the right time. After losing her opening match against Victoria Azarenka, Jankovic benefited from Safina;s withdrawal just 2 games into their contest, and then beat an exhausted Wozniacki to book a place in the last four.

Amazingly, Venus' form hasn't been great either. Losing her first two matches, Williams made the semis on the back of a late win against Svetlana Kuznetsova and benefited from being hard to beat, picking up a set in each of her loses.

The match soon settled into an expected rhythm with Venus going for her shots right from the start, and Jankovic doing the bulk of the defending, chasing down a lot of shots and forcing Venus to come up with one more to end points. An amazingly even encounter saw the the pair trade the first couple of sets before Jankovic raced out to a 2-0 lead in the decider.

Jankovic's joy was shortlived as Venus rallied back to win 6 of the last 8 games to win the match 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, and give herself an excellent chance to salvage something from a rather ordinary year that has seen come away without a single major title to her name.

In the second semi-final Serena Williams took on Caroline Wozniacki, with the former coming into the game as an overwhelming favourite. Serena had won all three of her matches in the tournament so far, and though Caroline had picked up two wins herself, her ability to survive a long battle was in serious doubt.

Wozniacki started well though, edging ahead 2-0 with an early break, but six more breaks of serve later, the new world no.1 had taken the opening set 6-4.

Wozniacki broke serve again in the opening game of the second set, but decided to call it quits on her way to the chair, plagued this time with an abdominal strain on her left side.

The fans meanwhile won't be too disappointed being served up what promises to be another battle royale between the two sisters extraordinaire. They met just a few days ago in a clash in the Maroon Group, with Serena needing a final set tiebreak to squeeze a win. Should the final be anything like that contest, we're sure to get more than our money's worth!

Saturday Scores:

Singles - Semifinals
(2) Serena Williams (USA) d. (4) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 64 01 retd.
(7) Venus Williams (USA) d. (8) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 57 63 64

Doubles - Semifinals
(1) Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) d. (3) Stosur/Stubbs (AUS/AUS) 36 76(3) 108
(4) Llagostera Vives/Martínez Sánchez (ESP/ESP) d. (2) Williams/Williams(USA/USA) 26 64 108

File Photograph Copyright: Edwin Martinez