Doha, Qatar (My Sportsbook) - Svetlana Kuznetsova beat fellow Russian Elena Dementieva on the final day of round-robin play, and that result propelled Venus Williams into Saturday's semifinals at the $4.55 million Sony Ericsson Championships.
The reigning Championships titlist Venus will join her year-end No. 1 sister Serena in the final four, which will also include U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki and former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic. Saturday's semifinals will pit Serena against Wozniacki and Venus versus Jankovic.
On Friday, a third-seeded Kuznetsova, the reigning French Open champ, easily topped a fifth-seeded Dementieva, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, 6-3, 6-2. A seventh-seeded Venus, Kuznetsova and Dementieva all went 1-2 in Maroon Group play in the round-robin portion of the event, but Venus moved on by virtue of winning more sets over the first four days of the tournament. The 2001 Championships titlist Serena captured the group with a perfect 3-0 mark.
Meanwhile, an eighth-seeded Jankovic drubbed a fourth-seeded Wozniacki 6-2, 6-2 to capture her group and second alternate Agnieszka Radwanska upended sixth-seeded Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 7-5, 4-1, as Azarenka retired due to a left hamstring injury at Khalifa Tennis Complex.
Radwanska replaced first alternate Vera Zvonareva on Friday, as the 2008 Championships runner-up to Venus pulled out with a right ankle injury. Zvonareva replaced top-seeded Dinara Safina in the field earlier in the week when Safina pulled out with a back injury. When the French Open and Australian Open runner-up Safina pulled out, it guaranteed that the Wimbledon and Aussie Open champion Serena would close out 2009 as the No. 1 women's player in the world. Safina just reclaimed the top ranking from Serena on Monday.
Jankovic and Wozniacki each went 2-1 in this week's White Group, which was rounded out by Radwanska (1-0), Azarenka (1-2), Zvonareva (0-1) and Safina (0-1).
An undefeated champ this week, which at this point could only be Serena, would collect $1.55 million.
