The Williams sisters will end their season with another title matchup. Venus defeated Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in one semifinal Saturday at the Sony Ericsson Championships, and Caroline Wozniacki retired against Serena in the other because of an abdominal injury while trailing 6-4, 0-1. Serena, who secured the year-end No. 1 ranking this week, is returning to the final of the WTA Tour's season-ending championships for the first time since 2004. She was knocked out in the group stage the last two years, but was the only player to go undefeated through the round-robin rounds this time. “I just came in here trying to do my best, and here I am,” she said. Venus will try to defend her title from last year Sunday, while Serena won the event in 2001 and has been runner-up twice. “It's wonderful, I'm so excited,” Venus said. “It's the way I wanted to end my year.” Serena beat Venus in this year's Wimbledon final, the fourth time they played each other for that Grand Slam title. There will be no Williams clean sweep Sunday though after they lost 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 in the doubles semifinal to Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The Spanish duo will face world No. 1 pairing Cara Black of Zimbabwe and American Liezel Huber. Wozniacki received medical treatment on her stomach in the first set and quit after breaking Williams to start the second. The 19-year-old Dane has been battling injuries all week, and reiterated after the match that aching abdominal muscles were affecting her serve. “She's been struggling throughout the entire tournament,” Serena said. “She's just an incredible fighter to come out here today and put up an effort.” After chasing down a drop shot and hitting a forehand winner for the break, Wozniacki pulled up and told the chair umpire she couldn't continue. The U.S. Open finalist exchanged hugs and handshakes with Serena, explaining her decision with an apologetic smile. “It was just too much for me to keep playing,” Wozniacki said. “I used all my strength I had left.” Venus reached this year's semis despite winning just one of her three round-robin matches, the first player to do so since Amelie Mauresmo in 2003. She clinched a berth when Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Elena Dementieva in the last group round Friday and now seems determined to make the most of her lucky break. Safin bows out Qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky sent Marat Safin to the brink of retirement when he beat the former world No. 1 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 “I don't have enough speed at this stage of my career to fight young guys like Stakhovsky,” said the 29-year-old Muscovite before lashing out at journalists. “You guys keep writing a lot of crap about me and I'm forced to defend myself.” Stakhovsky will face Horacio Zeballos in Sunday's final after the Argentine prevailed over unseeded Russian Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 6-3 in the other semifinal. Cilic, Melzer reach final Top-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia will play No. 7 Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the BA Tennis Trophy final after both won semifinals Saturday. Cilic beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-4, 7-6 (4), and Melzer rallied to defeat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Cilic will be trying for his third title of the season – and fourth overall – and still has a slim chance of qualifying for next month's ATP World Tour finals in London. Ljubicic-Llodra final Third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia reached the final of the Lyon Grand Prix on Saturday by beating Arnaud Clement of France 6-2, 6-4. The 30-year-old Ljubicic will try to end a title drought of more than two years when he faces wild card entrant Michael Llodra of France in Sunday's final. Llodra beat compatriot and second-seeded Gilles Simon 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (1). Ljubicic, who won the first of his eight ATP titles in Lyon in 2001, will play his first final since February 2008 in Zagreb while his last title came in ‘s
