Martina Hingis broke her 'Williams sisters' jinx to beat Venus 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the Italian Open on Saturday and reach her second final since ending a three-year retirement.
Hingis's win -- her first over the Wimbledon champion since the semi-finals of the 2001 Australian Open -- sent the Swiss through to a final against 16th seed Dinara Safina who edged out fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
After a litany of unforced errors in the first set, Hingis worked her way into the match before snatching a crucial break in the eighth game of the decider and serving out for victory in a match between two former world number ones.
"In the first set I felt like I could cry - I was missing my shots by a little bit and my timing was out," said Hingis, who also beat Williams on her way to winning the title in 1998.
"It's amazing that I played Venus in the semi-finals again eight years later - I'm just trying to enjoy it."
Hingis lost her only previous final this year, in Tokyo in February, to Elena Dementieva. She last beat Serena Williams, Venus's younger sister, in the same Australian Open in 2001.
In the first set there was simply no contest as Williams, seeded ninth, bludgeoned unseeded Hingis from the baseline.
The American, who had looked fragile during her laboured quarter-final win over Jelena Jankovic, played near-perfect claycourt tennis, taking the ball on the rise and angling it into the corners to drag the Swiss around the court.
But Williams could not maintain her high level and errors crept into her game in the second set.
HINGIS BACK
Hingis hit back to break twice for a 5-2 lead. Williams clawed one break back in the eighth game when Hingis gifted her a pair of double-faults, but then flailed a backhand wide to lose the set in the ninth game.
It was only in the decider that the match turned into the close contest most spectators had anticipated.
Hingis held off an early break point before unleashing a dipping forehand to create a break point of her own in the eighth game, which she converted when Williams put a backhand wide. She then served out for the match.
A win on Sunday would give Hingis her first title since winning in Tokyo more than four years ago. She is confident of her chances having beaten Safina in straight sets in the quarter-finals at Indian Wells this year.
"I played her already once this year and I came out of that well, so I'm hopeful. I just want to play a good match."
Safina emerged victorious from a 2-1/2 hour claycourt battle with Kuznetsova.
Safina, seeded 16, finally seized control in the 11th game of the final set when seventh seed Kuznetsova netted two forehands and drifted a backhand over the baseline to gift her opponent a break and the chance to serve out for the match.
"It was really a long time. In the second set I just said to myself 'play it point by point' and in the end it went my way today," said Safina after reaching her first final of the year.
On her way to the last four Safina recorded victories over world number two Kim Clijsters and fifth seed Elena Dementieva.
"It's a dream come true," she said.
