This match it there for Vee, beacuse JJ is not being as consistent as she usually is but if Vee doesn't reign in her errros soon she could be going home

Gotta feel for Vee's hitting partner, there's been some headache inducing play from his charge at times.
C'mon Vee.

Break A Thon match in the 3rd

Who ever holds their serve wins

Come on Vee,1st serve in,cheap points save those legs and knee

I thought she was serving so weakly because of the thigh problem, sblily. But if she also has an ab injury, she could as well retire. She is probably gonna get double bagelled in that shape.
Looks like Venus has had enough of this break-a-thon thing, as she holds at love with a very solid game.

Great service game for Venus!! Please serve it out (or break JJ) forget your other 3 setters against ReRe and Elena!

Come on, Vee. Break now!

Yay she heard me

Great service game Vee

Another break would be Nice

Venus serving 4-3
FH error by JJ 15-0
BH CC winner by Venus 30-0
BH DTL winner by Venus 40-0
BH error by JJ
game to Venus 5-3

Stop whinge JJ just stop and challenge the ball

Hawk Eye is here remember?

Jelena serving to stay in Doha 7-5,3-6,3-5

0-15 Jelena BH long
15-15 Venus nets FH
2 hours 25 minutes have been played
15-30 Jelena FH wide after running Venus side to side
Jelena is at the chair umpire once again wanting the ump to overrule
30-30 Venus BH return DTL long
40-30 Venus nets BH
Jelena holds as Venus nets BH return

Venus serving for the match 5-7,6-3,5-4

Kom sa, Vee, close it out

I cant watch Vee to serve this out

Please Vee lets have a love service game like before

It looked like Venus was gonna take it in this game, and she was running a lot trying to get it, but JJ managed to hold.
Now Venus has the chance to serve out the match. I think she deserves a spot in the final, having played all 3-setters this week.

what is with Venus' serve????

Opening for JJ at 15-30 as Venus DF

Venus Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic 5-7,6-3,6-4 saving a break point in the process

vee wins!

Great win by the superior and better player. Kom igen V, love it.

Venus, Venus, Venus!!!!!!

Commies to JJ and her fans. And congrats to Venus and her fans.

Yay I love Net Cords

Miss Vee congrats what guts you have,brilliant win with that knee and all

You are the defending Champion and have made the final here for the 2nd year

Go Girl,I am soo proud.

Venus serving for the match 5-4
2nd serve, an ugly DF 0-15
a nice deep FH by Venus , forces an error 15-15
2nd serve, DF#10(?) 15-30
BH error by JJ 30-30
Venus tries to go up the line with the FH and misses 30-40
error by JJ deuce
a nice wide service winner match point
2nd serve, net cord winner by Venus
game set match Venus

Commies to JJ and her fans,Yay Vee!I knew you could do it;)Now Go Serena!

Venus cleaned up at the end. Venus 43-49 and Jelena 17-34.

And then there are days like this when you love to be a Venus fan. Congrats my girl. Hope you defend your title here. You need to end the season on a high note. Commies to all JJ fans. She played well.

Venus!

But does anyone know why Serena has pulled out of Fed Cup? That really bothers me.

Bad luck JJ and to her fans

Well Done!

JJ needs to earn her wins against the top player and stop waiting for great player to give her the match by making silly errors.

love you vee... 2nd straight finals at the champ... just like rere in 01 and 02.... but i guess you will lose tomorrow... but the spirit is there... just go on and bring that spirit vee...

aww JJ. wish she could have won. oh well, I like Vee as well so I am happy for her.

Good for Venus, and sorry to JJ. That aside... is it me, or was this not a great match? I haven't seen the match stats yet, but it seemed like there were way too many UFEs.

crazyone, I was surprised by Venus's serve too. She started several games with DFs. She seems to have a knee injury, so maybe that has something to do with it?

Well, for a moment there, it looked like Venus was gonna get broken again, with 2 DFs and an ugly FH error to give JJ a BP, but JJ couldnt capitalize, and a lucky netcord gives Venus the match. Have i said already that the WTA doesnt have as much bromance (or the female version of it) as the WTA.
To be honest, i dont quite know what to make of this match. Venus' level was never very good (or at least, constant enough), and JJ had more consistency, specially in the first set and part of the second. But towards the middle of the second, JJ had the chance of taking a big advantage, and paid for not being able to do it. The 3rd set was just chaos, but i always got the feeling that Venus was in command, and she managed to come victorious of the break-a-thon.
Congratulations to Venus fans. She has played 4 tough matches this week, and i think she deserves the spot in the final.
Conmiserations to JJ fans. In the end, she lost her consistency, which was her main weapon in this match, and paid for it. Now, she has plenty of time to try to bring back the JJ from the last season.

i think rere pulls out for fed cup... because she's exhausted this week and fed cup is just next week... too little time to find your game, specially on clay after playing 3 straight days in hard courts and 2 possibly now...

I love Jo's shoes. Man, those are some really nice shoes. *wonders if they have them in 12 or 13

Yay! Well done Vee, you earned it. Sorry JJ fans.

Vee was pulled into playing JJ's game during the 1st set hence all the UFEs. She went back to her game and it seemed to click.

On-court interviewer is quite good, no insipid questions all week.

Vee classy as always in postmatch interview. Love her response to the question about injuries - "I'm doing the best I can."

That last shot was a form of justice for all the luck that JJ has had this week.

Well deserved win, Venus!

Well done Venus and her fans.

Hey, everyone. :)

Interesting write-up, Bobby. :)

Terrific, courageous fight from Venus to come back from a set down and a break down in the third - but that's the Williams sisters for you. Congratulations to Venus fans and rooters. :)

Commiserations and hugs to fellow JJ fans, if there are any - she lost her serve and some of her consistency in the third.

Anyway - much as I would've liked JJ to take it, it's fitting that Venus gets to the final.

Thanks for the match calls, Acey and Fuzzy; and thanks for your comments, Mr X. And sblily - thanks for the LOLs. :)

Sorry to the JJ fans.

Gilles in a tight one against LLodra. Winner faces ol' man Ljuby in Lyon. 4 all in the 3rd. Gilles serving.

Janko also putting together an unexpected run of form. In the 3rd against Melzer. Should he get through, that would be two finals in a row.

Venus said in the 1st set she "couldnt feel the ball".

Venus & JJ seem to have a script on how to play each other. It seems that Venus is now hip to JJ's jive. She does not allow her little shenanigans to derail her any more. The tide has finally turned.

Well, i must leave now, and even though i wont be able to watch the Hott Woz, i dont really regret it all that much, as like i have said, i feel she is gonna receive quite a beatdown, or maybe retire. She is just in no condition to face Serena, the way Serena is playing now.
See you tomorrow, everyone.

Serena with a bandaged thigh, playing a bunch in singles and doubles this week, may not think she has enough recovery time to compete on the clay next weekend.....

I hope with the off season,Vee can get that knee right.

She has been playing with that injury before Wimby this year

The thing with both sisters is

They Believe!!!

Serena has pulled out of fed cup....real shock there.....replaced by Vania King......Flavia and Franny smile....

Congrats to Venus!!......although a decent performance by the player who "is only there by default" yet managed to win their group........but picked a bad time to serve her only DFs of the match.......it cudda been a whole other story otherwise....

"i think rere pulls out for fed cup... because she's exhausted this week and fed cup is just next week... too little time to find your game, specially on clay after playing 3 straight days in hard courts and 2 possibly now..."

Pat, it was obvious after day 2 that she was not going to be able to play--this scheduling of fed/davis cup is just so absurd.

ATP Saturday Schedule:

St. Petersburg
Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated Marat Safin 6-4,4-6,6-4
Horacio Zeballos defeated Igor Kunitsyn 7-6(7),6-3

Lyon
Ivan Ljubicic defeated Arnaud Clement 6-2,6-4
Michael Llodra on serve with Gilles Simon 6-7(4),6-3,5-all

Vienna
Janko Tipsarevic on serve with Jurgen Melzer 6-4,6-7(5),3-2
Marin Cilic vs Philipp Kohlschreiber

Can i just ask why eurosport is constantly fawning over Caroline this week? I like her, shes a sweet girl who is a fighter on court no doubt, but all the media is a bit much, we get it shes nice lol.

Video of Piotr and Caroline dancing to single ladies on Eurosport's pre-semi coverage is all kinds of win.

Thanks Sam @ 12:28.

Good luck to your girl against Serena. I hope she's managed to recuperate even a little.

Hello Jacko, sorry for your girl lost, but Vee earned her place after so many tough losses this week. Kom sa, Caro, du er den bedste. Caro had two breaks points against Serena and if fully healthy she could do it.

All times USA EST

Saturday Order of Play
Cara Black and Liezel Huber defeated Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs 3-6,7-6(3),10-8
Venus Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic 5-7,6-3,6-4
Serena Williams vs Caroline Wozniacki to start shortly
Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez vs Serena Williams and Venus Williams at 12:30 PM

Sunday Order of Play
Venus Williams vs Caroline or Serena at 10 AM
Cara Black and Liezel Huber vs Nuria/Maria Jose or Serena/Venus at Noon

Kader Nouni is the chair umpire for Serena and Caroline

Caroline won the toss and will receive to start the match

Yello Fuzzy,
Please do match call for this match as I will be in and out.

Seeing that Serena has pulled out of the Fed cup.When will the ITF give their decision? maybe waiting for Christmas time.pfft.

"Serena with a bandaged thigh, playing a bunch in singles and doubles this week, may not think she has enough recovery time to compete on the clay next weekend....."

It's better that she pull out cos she's not going to be able to play effectively on clay with the fatigue factor & a bum leg.

Samantha: Caro had two break points....are they on already?!!

kchow - Maybe b/c, w/ Ivanovic's craptastic year, a "nice girl" slot has been freed up?

But yeah, with Clijsters back... A Kim/Caro match would put me in a sugar coma. Bah. *shudders*

Now I'll need Serena to shut Tracey Austin down in the pre-match interview, just to restore my sense of equilibrium.

yeah babe...very obvious.. so can we hand the cup to the italian team now...

and glad that vee win now!!! she had stabilized her head to head with great players this year, she levelled her head to head with maria, jelena and sveta who had been winning against her pretty good...

yet, she still has to stabilize her h2h to serena who leads by 2 wins and to flavia....

good luck vee...

I wish the ITF would give the decision right now since she isn't playing Fed cup.Enough with the waiting,now or leave her alone.

LOL sibily maybe (i do hope Ana finds her marbles next year though). I like Caro but they need to cool the media if only for her sake; don't think it helped Ana at all.

"Can i just ask why eurosport is constantly fawning over Caroline this week? I like her, shes a sweet girl who is a fighter on court no doubt, but all the media is a bit much, we get it shes nice lol."

I've had to take sea-sickness pills to keep from barfing. It's almost as bad as when the US commentators fawn over whom ever happens to be the flavor of the month.

Mr. and Mrs. D, this was at an earlier match where Caro had two MP which is what I intended to say.

This is my first time seeing Serena play this week. I like the design of her outfit, if not the color combo.

Seeing two players so heavily bandaged puts a bit of a damper on the match. :/

No great surprise that Serena pulled out of Fed Cup, I'm was surprised she wanted to play.

Hi everyone, I have just come in from seeing a great band called Gomez. AM I'm watching the cricket and India need 28 to win off 30 balls. Haurits doing a great job with the ball in the last over.

Serena's leg looks pretty bad i have to say, she's not moving well at all

AA Hi,I am giving the cricket a Miss.pfft.

Serena is missing a lot....and Wozniacki seems the more healed of the two......although she did hit a lovely dropshot there....which is always a good tactic against Wozniacki....

Odd...of the 4 players JJ is prob the least injured......

Caro is employing the same strategy that worked so well for JJ in the first set against Vee. *ducks*

for those who dont understand my poor grammar......Serena hit the dropshot...

I am going to say something that will annoy CWoz fans here - this girl is a drama queen. All the crying, all the excruciating pain, all of it. Drama. She was up in the stands yesterday dancing her patootie off. Today, she is running like a jack rabbit. Call me when you are really injured CWoz
I think Eurosport is fawning all over her because CWoz is what tennis media likes, tall, blonde, beautiful, ready smile (whether fake or genuine), plus she does all these events for Eurosport. Whatever. I liked CWoz when she was just a hard working player, now she is turning into a drama queen, and like many others before her on the Tour, I am not a fan of drama queens.

MA
sorry I was on the phone....
I'll start now @ Caro up a break serving 2-1

Great ROS from ReRe. Back on serve. :)

Serena has woken Up

Drama queen or not, ANYTHING but another WIlliams final, go Woz!

Caro serving 2-1
0-15
2nd serve, FH long by Caro 0-30
BH error long by Caro 0-40
big return , error by Caro
game Serena 2-2

Serena serving 2-2
big serve, 15-0
Serena comes in ,volley winner 30-0
Serena is in again, Caro can't make the pass 40-0
ace down the T
game Serena 3-2

Tim, your prayers will not be answered today. At least I hope they will not be

serena bails out of Fed Cup doesnt she care about the US?

I can only imagine the furor if Fed pulled out of Davis Cup final, while still playing and winning in the Masters Cup...

hope the ITF does the right thing re Serena and the Open, and levies a whopping fine..

Hi everyone!
Any links?
Nothing is working for me today... and getting to this site is becoming more difficult by the day!

Caro serving 2-3
FH return winner 0-15
another FH DTL winner by Serena 0-30
2nd serve, Return error long 15-30
2nd serve, FH inside out winner by Serena 15-40
a forceful return, error by Caro
game Serena 4-2

Karen if you can suffer through another WIlliams final, go for it! its like who cares who wins, there's not a shred of drama because there's no rivalry there, neither one enjoys beating the other...

whatever....lets put this year of women's tennis out of its misery...

Serena ending her previous service game w/ an ace reminds me of something else from OTL -- Serena thinking that closing out service games w/ an ace gives you an extra psychological edge -- you serve an ace and have already strutted half of the way to your chair while your opponent is still off balance, lunging for the ball.

Serena now up a break. Caro motioning towards her abs. Calling for the trainer?

Karen: While i agree that Caro is exactly the image the media would like to push i dont think shes a drama queen. Maybe she was a little over-dramatic in her match but i dont doubt she was in pain and maybe the heat of the moment made it seem worse then it was. I do think she's still that same hard working girl but agreed her movement 2day looks surprisingly ok

Caroline vs Serena

http://atdhe.net/7920/watch-wta-championships-doha

Caroline getting treatment for her stomach(abs)

From Leif on TTC: "Well Serena gift wraps that service game."

Yup.

Serena serving 4-2
BH DTL error by Serena 0-15
2nd serve, Caro comes in , gets the lob back, then hits the low volley winner 0-30
2nd serve, Serena goes for the FH DTL misses it wide 0-40
Serena nets the FH CC
game to Caro 3-4

Ugh, Serena. WTF was that? Please take Caro's MTO as an opportunity to re-read the pertinent parts of your book.

Tim - Whatever crime you committed must've been really heinous for you to have been sentenced to watching all these horrible WTA matches. You ARE being forced to watch them, right? ;)

ATP Saturday Schedule:

St. Petersburg
Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated Marat Safin 6-4,4-6,6-4
Horacio Zeballos defeated Igor Kunitsyn 7-6(7),6-3

Lyon
Ivan Ljubicic defeated Arnaud Clement 6-2,6-4
Michael Llodra defeated Gilles Simon 6-7(4),6-3,7-6(1)

Vienna
Jurgen Melzer defeated Janko Tipsarevic 4-6,7-6(5),6-4
Marin Cilic vs Philipp Kohlschreiber to start shortly

Some posters are just plain annoying...Go Serena!

i wont be watching the williams final thats for sure, Im hoping for JJ to upset, bummer, now Im hoping for Woz, and...bummer... LOVE to see upsets and someone stand up to Ree Vee and beat them, alas, not happening this week...

Kimmie and Justine will bring some fun back to the women's game in 10

If Caro had said she couldn't play today (ab/hamstring injuries), was there anyone who could've taken her place?

Caro serving 3-4
CC FH winner by Serena 0-15
FH return winner by Serena 0-30
2nd serve, big return, error by Caro 0-40
return error by Serena 15-40
FH error by Caro
game to Serena 5-3

endless williams sisters finals are what's annoying, theyre like glorified exhibitions every time, their mom sits there in glum silence, I know how she feels...

I do hope that they'll be able to find a better date in the WTA calendar for the Fed Cup final, a date that does not extend the season but also one that does not clash with the Bali-type event and is the week after the SEC.

I've never understood how, if you want the top players to participate in DC and FC, you can schedule the ties right after Slams or YEC's where you would expect your top players to go deep.

Really sorry about Serena pulling out of FC, Mary Jo sounded so excited about her participation in the long interview/press conference I read on GVGirl's Global Tennis Village site.

Yet, I'd had my doubts months ago that either Venus or Serena would participate because of other reasons. This is a case where I'm sorry to be correct about something.

Well I have tried all the links possible to no avail *sigh*

I see Zeballos is having a run in St. Petersburg and Simon lost :(

Just scoreboarding at the moment and getting annoyed with Serena for not holding her serve! C'mon girl!

Just A Note,
No, Serena would have advanced to the final.

This has been a terrible match so far. Serena trying to be aggressive but CWoz just doing what she does best.
Tim, I agree with you that some of the WS matches have been a bit of a snoozefest, but I think this end of year championships both sisters have something to prove. Serena trying to end the year as No. 1 in both singles and doubles and Venus trying to at least defend a title this year and improve her rankings. I think the final if both get there should be good.

I'm not surprise how well Caro is staying with Serena and is able to break her serve. Caro is at her best when people doubt her. Kom sa, Caro. Du er den bedste., Scandinavia's#1!