Venus sees off sister Serena to seal Doha semi-final spot

VENUS WILLIAMS reached the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Championships yesterday with a hard-fought 5-7 6-1 6-0 win against her sister Serena to stay undefeated in three matches in Doha.

Serena Williams was in superb form in the first set and looked on course to win her second match of the tournament but she failed to maintain the momentum and Venus powered to take the next two sets, dropping just one game.

“I’m pretty excited,” Venus said. “When I go down I always seem to come back again. I started serving a little more consistently and I tried to cut down on errors and I did that, especially in the last part of the match.

“Serena and I are two very different players. I’m more calm whereas she’s quite emotional. I think she lost a little bit of focus in the third set and was focusing on the errors too much.”

Top seed Jelena Jankovic also advanced with a 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 defeat of Svetlana Kuznetsova. The victory meant the Serbian, who is 2-0 in round-robin play, topped the White Group, and she could stay there if she beats Vera Zvonareva today.

She looked to be cruising in the first set but Kuznetsova battled back and eventually lost only on a tie-break. However, Jankovic’s superior experience told in the second set and she comfortably wrapped up the win.

Elena Dementieva cruised past winless Dinara Safina 6-2 6-4 for her first victory of the championship.

The Russian lost to Venus Williams in three sets on Wednesday but bounced back to see off Safina, who has lost her opening two matches in straight sets to both Williams sisters.

Dementieva will face Serena Williams, today for a place in the semi-finals. “I expect it is going to be a tough match,” Dementieva said.

I will try my best and keep thinking positively to play well.”