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Serena wins battle of Williams sisters to make semis

04/09/2008

Serena Williams has beaten her elder sister Venus in the US Open quarter-finals to set up a last-four encounter with Russia's Dinara Safina.

The younger Williams, who is seeded fourth at Flushing Meadows, showed her gritty, determined side as she saved ten set points throughout the match – eventually winning in straight sets 7-6 7-6.

Venus started the stronger and broke her sister early on, but Serena battle back from 3-5 down to steal the opening set on a tiebreak.

And the second set played out in similar fashion as 28-year-old Venus again found herself a break to the good and 5-3 up, before squandering eight set points as she handed back the break of serve and then lost out in a hard-fought tiebreak 9-7.

Serena, 26, will face sixth seed Safina in the semi-finals after the Russian saw off the challenge of Italy's Flavia Pennetta 6-2 6-3.

Safina - the younger sister of 2000 US Open champion Marat Safin – will be appearing in her first ever semi-final in New York after dominating her nervous opponent.

The 16th seed lost her serve in the first game of the match and was easily beaten to go 1-0 behind.

And despite offering more of a challenge to Safina in the second set, the Russian again proved too strong and closed out the match in fine style.