BBC SPORT | Tennis | Serena moves into semis

Saturday's results

World number one Serena Williams overcame a sluggish start to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Tour Chmapionships with a 7-6 (7-1) win over Jelena Dokic.

The top seed was a break down in the first set before recovering to force the tiebreak which she won comfortably.

I feel great - I'm not tired, I'm just getting started

Serena Williams

Dokic was completely outclassed in the second set and offered only token resistance as Williams marched towards her third career win over the Yugoslavian, who is yet to win a set from the world number one.

Williams, who is on course to meet older sister Venus in the final, will first have to get past third seed Jennifer Capriati.

Jennifer Capriati
Capriati was in unconvincing form

The Australian Open champion laboured to defeat unseeded Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva 6-2 4-6 6-1 earlier on Saturday.

Without a title since winning the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne, Capriati had won just one match in three events before arriving in Los Angeles.

Although she was erratic and far from impressive, it was still enough to dispose of Maleeva, who reached the finals in two of her last four events, including a title victory in Moscow.

Both women struggled with their serve in a contest that featured 14 breaks, nine going against Maleeva, a player once ranked in the world's top five.

After battling to take the second set, Maleeva's serve completely deserted her in the third as she failed to hold once.

Results from the Home Depot Championships in Los Angeles:

(3) J Capriati (US) bt M Maleeva (Bul) 6-2 4-6 6-1
(1) S Williams (US) bt J Dokic (Yug) 7-6 (7-1) 6-0


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