view photoBANGALORE, India (Reuters) - Venus and Serena Williams will meet in the Bangalore Open semi-finals, their first encounter since the 2005 U.S. Open fourth round.
Second seed Venus advanced with a 6-4 6-3 win over Russian Vera Zvonareva on Friday while her sister Serena, seeded three, crushed Russian Anastasia Rodionova 6-1 6-4 in 58 minutes.
view photoTop seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia lost 6-3 3-6 6-3 to unseeded Chinese Yan Zi. The world number 54 next faces Swiss fourth seed Patty Schnyder, a 4-6 6-4 7-6 winner over Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan.
Venus and Serena, who have 14 grand slam titles between them, are tied 7-7 in head-to-head meetings.
"(It) would have been nice if we'd met in the final," Venus told a news conference.
The 27-year-old American improved considerably on her inconsistent display against Chinese Peng Shuai in the second round when she committed 15 double faults.
Venus led 5-1 in the opening set before Zvonareva broke twice to win three straight games.
Former world number one Venus squandered five set points before breaking her 21st-ranked opponent in the 10th game to take the set.
EARLY BREAKS
"I had to concentrate to play well," said Venus after going through with another break of serve in the fourth game of the second after the pair had traded early breaks.
"She (Venus) is a very tough opponent," said Serena. "I was hoping she'd break her leg or something," she joked.
Yan, 23, who has won two grand slam doubles titles, broke world number four 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 serve in the sixth game after the duo had traded breaks.
Gritty Yan then focused on keeping the ball in play in the decider as Jankovic suffered with a shoulder problem.
Yan went 4-0 up but Jankovic broke back before the Chinese served out for the match.
"(It is) a big win for me," said an elated Yan.
Jankovic said: "I made a lot of errors. I was not feeling the ball at all.
"I had problems with my shoulder," she said, adding that it hampered her serving in the third set.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
