Serena Williams defeated Patty Schnyder 7-5 6-3 in the Bangalore Open final on Sunday for her first title of the season.

American world No.11 Williams was inconsistent for the most part but drew from her wealth of experience to edge out Swiss world No.12 Schnyder in 83 minutes and win 29th career WTA Tour singles title.

The Bangalore Open was Serena's second tournament of the season. After reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals, where she lost to Jelena Jankovic, Williams skipped tournaments in February to recover from gum surgery.

On the way to the title, third-seeded Serena beat Tzipora Obziler, Anastasia Rodionova, sister Venus Williams, and finally fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder. Winning the Bangalore Open, the 26-year-old Williams earned $95,500

The next tournament Serena Williams will play is the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami which starts March 24. The American is defending champion there, in last year's final she beat Justine Henin. (photo via Yahoo)

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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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The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, will face each other in the Bangalore Open semifinals, their first meeting in almost three years.

Second seed Venus advanced with a 6-4 6-3 win over Russian Vera Zvonareva, while her sister Serena, seeded third, demolished Russian Anastasia Rodionova 6-1 6-4.

World No.7 Venus and No.11 Serena, who have 14 Grand Slam titles between them, are tied at 7-7 in career meetings.

Talking about playing against her sister, Serena joked: "She is a tough player and the only chance of beating her is when she is injured. I want her leg to be broken.

"Venus is nice to me all the time except when she is on court.

"I am also very competitive and I always want to win. We will have fun tomorrow."

BTW: Venus and Serena, knowing there will be no possibility of an all-Williams final at the Bangalore Open, aimed at reaching the doubles final. However, their plan crashed as they lost in the second round already. (source: BBC)

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World No.4 Jelena Jankovic lost in the quarterfinals of the Bangalore Open in India as Yan Zi of China defeated her 6-3 3-6 6-3. Jankovic struggled with a shoulder injury during the third set of the match.

Top-seeded Jankovic suffered her second career loss to world No.54 Yan, who has now improved to 2-0 in career against the Serb. Jankovic’s previous loss to Yan was in Bangkok last year, where she was also top-seeded but had to retire because she couldn’t stand the heat.

Yan, looking for her second career title, will take on fourth-seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in Saturday's semifinal. (source: IOL, photo: Getty Images)

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