Serena Williams - File

BANGALORE, India (AP):

THIRD-SEEDED Serena Williams defeated her older sister Venus Williams 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) yesterday to reach the final of the Bangalore Open.

"It was a close match, although we both weren't at our best," said Serena Williams, whose opponent in today's final will be fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder.

Schnyder defeated Yan Zi 6-3, 6-4 in the other semi.

Serena Williams dominated the match early on, forcing three service breaks in the opening set. But second-seeded Venus Williams struck back to take the second set.

Stiff contest

The deciding set was a stiff contest until Venus Williams was broken in the seventh game.

Serena Williams was serving for the match in the 10th game when she wasted a match point and went on to drop the service point.

"My serve let me down on match point," she said.

In the 12th game, it was Venus Williams' turn to squander a match point, allowing her sister to draw even and take the contest to a tiebreaker that she won to secure passage to the final.

Dominated from start

In the other semi-final, Schnyder dominated play from the start, and forced three service breaks, while only conceding one point on her own serve in the first set.

"I struggled with my first serve, but my second serve was fine," Schnyder said. "I kept hitting the ball deep which she found difficult to return."

Schnyder failed to serve out the match in the ninth game of the second set when Yan broke back - only to lose the match with a double fault in the next game.

"The ball bounced a lot more than I expected, Patty played well and got the angles on her shots," Yan said.