World number one Serena Williams remains on course for a record sixth Miami title following a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over sister Venus.
Belarussian to play Serena at the Sony Ericsson Open
World number one Serena Williams remains on course for a record sixth Miami title following a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over her sister Venus on Thursday.
The win saw Serena, who won the Australian Open in January, level her career head-to-head against her sibling at ten wins apiece.
The result also ensures she is still in pursuit of a third straight Sony Ericsson Open title, and sixth overall, with youngster Victoria Azarenka her next opponent.
The American only seized control of the match in the third set, racing to a 4-1 lead, and broke Venus in the final game to seal the victory.
Excited
"I'm excited because I was thinking that I would love to remain number one, so obviously I was really excited about that," Serena said afterwards. "I think I was more happy about that than winning the match at the end."
With both players going for winners, errors abounded and rallies were few but, despite her disappointment, Venus is now backing her sister to go on and record a sixth Miami success.
"It was a well-fought match," said Venus. "My serve wasn't going as well as I wanted. But she brought a lot of balls back and played tough.
"I'm disappointed that I lost tonight, whether she kept the ranking or not. As for the final, obviously Victoria is talented, but you know, Serena is Serena."
Azarenka stands in Serena's way, though, after the 19-year-old defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 2-6 7-5 earlier in the day.
Success means the Belarusian will play in her first Premier level final and she admits she is entering unchartered waters.
"It's the first final in such a big tournament for me," she said. "It's all kind of an experience for me. It's a new thing that I'm going to be introduced to on how to handle.
"It's the biggest moment in my career. It feels great that all the work I've been doing is paying off. I was just trying to play every point from the beginning to the end."
Both Azarenka and Kuznetsova earned a break of serve twice early in the first set but the former went 5-3 in front thanks to a superb cross-court forehand into the corner.
Dominated
Kuznetsova then dominated the second set but her opponent, who won the junior titles in the Australian and US Open in 2005, managed to regroup.
She nevertheless wobbled when serving for the match at 5-4, allowing seventh-seed Kuznetsova to break with a double-fault.
However, Azarenka immediately broke back and got a second chance to serve for the match, this time seeing it out - despite a brilliant return from Kuznetsova that pulled the game back to deuce.
The match ended after the Russian went long following a baseline rally - Azarenka looking emotionally and physically drained as she celebrated her triumph.
The 11th seed has won in Brisbane and Memphis this year and also reached the semi-final at Indian Wells.
