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TOKYO : Venus Williams ended a spirited challenge from Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki on Friday to reach the final of the Japan Open tennis tournament, while former world number one Lleyton Hewitt crashed out.
The Wimbledon champion, heavily favoured for the title, powered to a 6-3, 7-5 victory to move to within one match of back-to-back tour wins after last week's Korea Open triumph.
In Saturday's final the American will take on fifth seed Virginie Razzano of France, who defeated eighth seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.
"It feels good. It's great to be in the finals," Williams said.
"I was like, 'can I do this? Is it possible?' But it is, so it's exciting."
After losing the first four games in a row and eventually the first set, Wozniacki went ahead 2-0 in the second set and then 4-2, taking advantage of Williams's two double faults in the sixth game.
But the American steadied herself to make it 5-5 -- thanks to a questionable line-call -- before winning the last three games to finish off the 97-minute match.
"Four-two is definitely not the set, it's just one break, so winning one game is always pretty much even," said Williams.
"I was trying to win one game at one time. I was very confident. I was trying to focus on making less errors," she said.
The 17-year-old Wozniacki said she could not cope with Williams once the Wimbledon champion returned to form in the second set.
"Venus played really well, she just smashed winners in the corners, so I couldn't do anything," she said.
"I was trying to keep my tactics, just tried to make her run, but at 4-2 she really raised her game until four-all and she just did a lot of winners, so I couldn't really do anything.
"It's tough to break her serve even though I broke her serve three times in the match," said Wozniacki.
Razzano is also seeking a back-to-back victory, following her career-first WTA title at Guangzhou, China, last weekend.
"I've never been intimidated to play against Venus, because I've played against many top 10, top 20 players before," said Razzano, ranked 33.
"But I want to save my energy for tomorrow, because I'm a little bit tired. I played nine matches in 10 days. I haven't taken a rest.
"Sometimes it's difficult, but you must do your job. Even if you lose or win, it's OK, you did your job," added the 24-year-old.
Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Hewitt, from Australia, lost to seventh seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (8/6) in the men's singles quarter-finals.
He said of the defeat: "It's tough to say... because actually I was the one who had break points, four break points, in the match and I didn't fight against a break point on my serve the whole match."
"I felt like I was better for the whole match. And I lost the match."
Karlovic hit a total of 25 service aces against Hewitt's nine.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, the Croat will play top seed David Ferrer, who defeated fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-5.
French third seed Richard Gasquet whipped Israel's Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-1, while second seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic outclassed eighth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 7-5.
- AFP /ls
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