The Williams sisters played each other for the first time after almost three years and the younger one, Serena Williams, won the thrilling Bangalore semifinal 6-3 3-6 7-6 to ensure a meeting with world No.12 Patty Schnyder in the final of the Indian tournament.

Beating sister Venus, world No.11 Serena now has a 8-7 lead in their head-to-head record.

With the buzz surrounding the battle of siblings, the Swiss Schnyder quietly cruised into the final with a 6-3 6-4 victory over 54th-ranked Chinese Yan Zi, who yesterday upset world No.4 and top seed Jelena Jankovic.

Tomorrow's championship match will be tenth career meeting between Serena Williams and Patty Schnyder, and the stats are on the side of the American as she leads 6-3. However, their last two encounters, and the only ones in 2007, Schnyder won.

Both the players are debutants at the Bangalore Open. The one who wins it will earn $95,500. (photos: Getty Images)

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Fourth seed Patty Schnyder was upset in the quarterfinals of the Proximus Diamond Games by unseeded Italian Karin Knapp who won 6-2 6-7 7-6.

The match was tight, and the 20-year-old Knapp almost spoiled the great opportunity to reach her first semifinal of the season as Schnyder's experience started to dominate. Still, Knapp managed to defeat the favorite by gathering her power towards the end of the match. The Italian won the third set tiebreak 7-2.

The 13th-ranked Schnyder was playing an Antwerp quarterfinal for the fifth time, winning only one back in 2002.

World No.47 Knapp will next face either ninth seed Na Li of China or Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson who advanced to the quarterfinals by upsetting second-seeded Anna Chakvetadze. (photo via Yahoo)

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Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova won the 2007 Generali Ladies Linz with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Swiss Patty Schnyder on Sunday.

Second-seeded Hantuchova was 4-2 down in the first set, but then won five games in a row to win the set and take a lead in the second. Sixth-seeded Schnyder lost her serve again at 2-1 in the second set and then missed two chances to break back. Hantuchova held her serve and finished off the match on her second match point on Schnyder's serve.

With the Linz title Hantuchova collected enough points to take the eighth and last spot in the race to the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. This means that Maria Sharapova hasn’t qualified for the prestigious event this year, since she’ll be ranked ninth in the race to the season-ending WTA Championships.

Being 2007 Linz champion, Hantuchova earned $88,265. (via Yahoo!)

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Second-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova and sixth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder will meet in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz on Sunday.

World No.10 Daniela Hantuchova stormed back from a third-set deficit and also saved a match point against fifth seed Nicole Vaidisova to win 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and advance to the Linz final. This was the first time Hantuchova defeated Vaidisova.

The Slovakian will seek her third career title on Sunday, and her second title of 2007 (after winning Indian Wells in March).

In the other semifinal match Patty Schnyder beat third seed Marion Bartoli of France 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Bartoli came back twice from a break down in the first set, but Schnyder won the tie-break. At 5-1 in the second, Schnyder missed three match points on Bartoli's serve and was broken afterward, but then closed it out on her fourth match point as Bartoli hit a forehand wide.

The 17th-ranked Swiss hopes that on Sunday she will win her 11th career title, and the first one since 2005.

Hantuchova and Schnyder have met 16 times so far, and they are 8-8, but the Slovak won five of their last six matches. (photos via Yahoo!)

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Sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder needed only 39 minutes to crush top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-0 Friday and reach the semifinals of the Generali Ladies Linz.

Look at these facts: Chakvetadze made 24 unforced errors, scored only six points on her opponent’s serve, and she won her only serving game after facing two break points! No wonder the Russian described the Linz Open quarterfinal as her worst match of the year.

Chakvetadze is now withdrawing from an event next week in Quebec in order to prepare for the season-ending Championships in Madrid but her confidence is low.

"Now I'm already thinking if it's a good thing that I qualify for there because with this kind of game I don't know what I'm going to do there," Chakvetadze told reporters.

In the semifinals Patty Schnyder will face third-seeded Marion Bartoli, who defeated Julia Vakulenko in the quarterfinals. Second seed Daniela Hantuchova also reached the semis, and will play against either Nicole Vaidisova or Dinara Safina. (sources: ESPN, Reuters)

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