DOHA, Qatar
The Williams sisters will end their season with another title matchup.
Venus Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 yesterday in one semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Championships. Serena Williams won the other when Caroline Wozniacki quit because of an abdominal injury while trailing 6-4, 0-1.
Serena, who secured the year-end No. 1 ranking this week, is returning to the final of the WTA Tour's season-ending championships for the first time since 2004. She was knocked out in the group stage the last two years, but was the only player to go undefeated through the round-robin rounds this time.
"I just came in here trying to do my best, and here I am," she said.
Serena won the event in 2001 and has been runner-up twice. Today, Venus will try to defend her title from last year.
"It's wonderful, I'm so excited," Venus said. "It's the way I wanted to end my year."
The Williams sisters were back on the court about 30 minutes after Serena's win Saturday to compete in the four-team doubles event. They lost to Spaniards Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 after a champions tiebreaker.
Serena Williams also announced yesterday that she is withdrawing from the U.S. team that will face Italy in the Fed Cup final, deciding she needs to rest after a long season.
Serena Williams informed U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez she won't play in the Nov. 7-8 matches yesterday.
Vania King replaces Serena Williams on the roster, joining surprise U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin, Liezel Huber and Alexa Glatch. Fernandez had announced this week Serena Williams would play Fed Cup for the first time since 2007.
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