Bangalore: China's Yan Zi stunned top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the quarter-finals of the Bangalore Open on Friday.
World No. 54 Yan clinched a thrilling 6-3,3-6, 6-3 victory in just over two hours and will meet Swiss fourth seed Patty Schnyder for a place in the final.
The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, will face each other in the second semi-final on Saturday, their first meeting since the 2005 US Open fourth round. World No. 7 Venus beat Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 6-3 in 90 minutes and third seed Serena demolished unseeded Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-4 in 58 minutes.
Schnyder was the first player to reach the last four, wearing down big-serving Uzbek Akgul Amanmuradova to win 4-6,6-4,7-6.
Yan, 23, who has won two Grand Slam doubles titles, broke world No. 4 Jankovic in the eighth game before wrapping up the first set.
Jankovic, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in January, came back strongly in the second breaking her opponent in the sixth after the two had traded breaks.
But gritty Yan, who packed off eighth-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko in the first round, focused on keeping the ball in play in the decider during which Jankovic's shoulder needed attention.
Yan went up 4-0 but Jankovic broke back before the Chinese served out for the match. Americans Venus and Serena, who have 14 Grand Slam titles between them, are tied at seven-all in their head-to-head meetings.
"(It) would have been nice if we'd met in the final," Venus said.
Venus, 27, showed considerable improvement from her inconsistent display in the second round against Chinese Peng Shuai when she committed 15 double faults.
The second seed led 5-1 in the opening set against Zvonareva before the Russian seventh seed broke her twice as she won three straight games.
Venus, a former world No. 1, squandered five set points before breaking her 21st-ranked opponent in the 10th game to take the set.
"I did have to concentrate to play well," Venus said.
Venus took control of the second set, making a crucial break in the fourth game after the two had traded early breaks.
"She (Venus) is a very tough opponent," said Serena, who was briefly stretched by Rodionova in the second set. "I was hoping she'd break her leg or something," she joked.
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