Venus wins battle of sisters to reach final

Venus Williams upset little sister Serena 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday to register the first win over her top ranked sibling in five years and move into Rogers Cup final.

The meeting marked the 25th time the sisters had squared off but the first time Venus had come out on top since a 2009 semifinals encounter in Dubai.

World number one Serena holds a 14-11 lead in their head-to-heads after coming out on top in their previous five encounters, including the 2009 Wimbledon final.

Clashes between the pair, which at one time were an almost regular and welcome occurrence on tennis courts around the world, have become rare and their meeting in Montreal was just the second since the 2009 Tour championships.

Venus will  meet Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska in Sunday's final. Third seed Radwanska beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3) to advance to her second final of the year.“I don't think we played for a number of years, as well. It's not like we've been playing year in and year out,” said Venus.
“I definitely expected a tough match. She played well. She hit so many aces. What's so unique about the situation is that we're both very good players.”

While a Williams-Williams match-up is one tennis fans have always looked forward to, for the sisters it is something they could live without.

There was little excitement when the match was over, the two players walking slowly to the net and hugging briefly.

Venus' reaction at ending her sister's Rogers Cup title defence was muted as she turned and offered a small wave to the crowd before slumping into her courtside chair and staring blankly across the court.
If losing to her sister stung Serena, she hid it well.

Federer marvels

Roger Federer eased into the men’s final at Toronto with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain’s Feliciano Lopez on Saturday, putting the Swiss maestro on the brink of a landmark 80th career title.

Standing between Federer and another trophy is Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who claimed his third straight upset by dispatching seventh-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-3.

After knocking off world number one Novak Djokovic in the third round, twice champion Andy Murray in the quarters and Dimitrov in the semifinals, the powerful Frenchman will need to produce one more upset to deny Federer a third Canadian title.

It will be Federer’s 120th career final while Tsonga will be playing for a title for the 20th time.
Federer said Tsonga would be on a high after his series of upsets in Toronto.

Federer, who celebrated his 33rd birthday on Friday, was in imperious form, dropping just four points on his serve in taking the opening set of the encounter.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner kept up the pressure in the second with a break to open the set and was never seriously challenged, running his record against Lopez to 11-0.

Sania-Cara in final

Meanwhile, Sania Mirza and Cara Black  carved out a 7-6(3), 3-6, 13-11 victory over Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Peng Shuai of China to set up a doubles final against top-seeded Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in Montreal.