Serena Wins Battle of Sisters; Advances to Final

American third seed Serena Williams beat older sister Venus to win a place in the Bangalore Open final against Swiss world number 12 Patty Schnyder.

World number 11 Serena beat Venus, the number seven, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 in a thrilling semi-final lasting two hours 10 minutes after fourth seed Schnyder had dispatched China's Yan Zi 6-3 6-4. The American sisters, who have won 14 grand slam singles titles between them, were meeting for the first time since the 2005 U.S. Open fourth round. "It was definitely hard fought. I need to get refocused in quick time," third seed Serena said. "It's probably one of our closest matches. Neither one of us was playing our best tennis."

Serena broke second seed Venus in the fifth and ninth games to win the opening set. Venus came back strongly to win the second but Serena took the deciding tiebreak 7-4 after each had wasted a match point earlier in the third set.

"I was really upset I didn't take the opportunity on my first match point and was lucky Venus did not either," Serena said. "I was happy I took it to the tiebreak."

Venus said her sister always raised her game against her. "She always plays really tough, really challenging," she said. "She hit some serves that I really couldn't return." Serena now leads their head-to-head series 8-7. Both former world number ones, the Williams sisters have combined for 64 WTA championships during their career including 14 grand slam titles. Serena has not won a tour event since capturing the crown in Miami last April.