Williams Sisters Face Off In MSG Final

The King Cup will bear the Williams name.

Serena Williams set up an all-Williams sisters final, dismissing Ana Ivanovic, 6-3, in tonight's second semifinal of the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden. The World No. 1 amped up the volume on her serve in digging out of 15-40 deficits in the third and the seventh games.

"I thought at 15-40 you really have nothing to lose," Serena said. "Playing in Madison Square Garden I think I was a little nervous. I'm not the fastest starter in the world. It's just awesome. I've never played Madison Square Garden so this is such a great experience for me. It doesn't get better than to play in New York."

Serena's win vaulted her into the final against Venus, who scored a 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(3) win over her younger sister in the Dubai semifinals two weeks ago to take a 10-9 lead in their head-to-head series.

Playing on her third different surface for the third straight week, Venus Williams unleashed a stinging serve to power past Jelena Jankovic, 6-4, into the the final of the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden tonight.

The one-set semifinals of the four-player exhibition event feature no-ad scoring.

Venus set the tone for the match on serve, winning all 13 points played on her first serve and surrendering just four points on her second serve.

The five-time Wimbledon winner won the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on outdoor hard court two weeks ago, captured the Acapulco title on Saturday and looked comfortable and confident on the indoor blue court tonight.

Jankovic centered the ball at the outset, but got herself into trouble late in the set by rushing through down the line drives. The Jankovic backhand is typically one of the most sound strokes in women's tennis, but she committed five unforced errors of her backhand side and frequently forced the issue down the line as if she was unwilling to consistently engage Williams in crosscourt rallies.

Hitting with more conviction in the eighth game, Williams held at love to forge a 4-all tie.  

A double fault followed by an errant backhand down the line put Jankovic in a 0-30 hole in the ninth game. Jankovic moved Williams wide with a 103 mph serve down the middle, but rushed the next shot and her backhand down the line landed well wide to fall into a 0-40 hole. An obstinate Jankovic, appearing intent on making the shot, stubbornly drove another backhand down the line and missed it wide again to drop serve and hand Williams a 5-4 lead.

Williams had won five straight points when she began to struggle with her toss and dumped successive double faults to face a 15-30 deficit. A 103 mph ace down the line brought her to 30-all. The longest rally of the match ended with a Jankovic error into the net as Venus gained match point and she closed the one-set match with a leaping overhead.

"I think when I got the break at 4-all it was great," Williams said. "It was a little bit nerve-wracking not just the one set (format), but that it's sudden death. I like it like that. She played great. She had me on the move side to side and that's one of her strengths and I needed to stop that so I could get the lead. I changed my strategy and it worked."

Following the semifinals, former President Bill Clinton spoke in a ceremony honoring King, who was visibly moved during Clinton's short speech.

"She's done a lot not only to help women pursue their tennis dreams but other dreams well beyond athletics," Clinton said. "She's probably done more than anyone else in the world to empower women and educate men."

Glancing back at King who stood behind him near the baseline, Clinton closed saying King's lesson is in the value of continuously striving for dreams.

"The beauty, the dignity, the meaning of life is available to anyone with enough heart to make the journey if you have the heart of a champion, if you have the heart of Billie Jean King you can belong, you can prevail," Clinton said.