Serena Makes Istanbul Final

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Serena Williams beat Jelena Jankovic 6-4 2-6 6-4 to reach the final of the WTA Championships in Istanbul, where she will meet Li Na of China.

Defending champion and world number one Williams, seeking her 11th title of the year, won in two hours and six minutes.

Li reached her first WTA Championships final with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Czech left-hander Petra Kvitova.

That win lifts Li, 31, up to third in the world rankings - the highest ever recorded by an Asian player.

Both Williams and Jankovic had fitness concerns before their semi-finals: the latter unsure whether she could begin her match because of a heavy cold; Williams often showing signs of discomfort.

It was former world number one Jankovic, now ranked eighth, who made the better start, winning three of the first four games.

But 32-year-old Williams, who has won three WTA Championships, went on to take 10 successive points and secure the opening set.

Jankovic promptly levelled the match as Williams lost her first set at the tournament since 2007 to anyone other than her sister Venus.

Williams, who mixed 40 unforced errors with 40 winners, failed to convert a match point at 5-2 in the third and, after Jankovic broke to fight back to 5-4, two more were squandered in the 10th game.

But the fourth match point proved decisive as Williams added to her victory over Jankovic in Beijing earlier this month to record an eighth win in 12 matches against the Serb.

Li, who won the French Open in 2011, has reached at least the quarter-finals of every event she has played in this year but has lost her last eight matches against Williams, three of which have been this year.

The Chinese has beaten the American only once in their 10 meetings, in three sets in Stuttgart five years ago.

"I reached my goal - top three in the world," she said. "That was the goal at the beginning of the year.

"I don't know if it's lucky but I'm happy that in the last tournament I made it, so it's a pretty good ending for 2013.

"Tomorrow is the last match. So I'll enjoy that and have a good vacation. This is my goal now."

Williams and Li, the two oldest players in the tournament, last met at the US Open in September when Williams won 6-0 6-3 in the semi-finals.

"I had already lost the match before I came to the court," Li admitted.

"Maybe now I have to try to focus on what I should do on the court, not focus on what she does, so I have to try to play my game and not follow her."

Kvitova, who needed more than two hours to defeat Angelique Kerber in their crucial group game on Friday, said: "I think that I used a lot of energy when I had to fight back in [that] match."

The 23-year-old world number six made 29 unforced errors against Li and added: "I was ready to fight again but unfortunately I didn't have everything in my quest to beat her. She played really well. In the second set I didn't have any big chance."

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Serena Starts as Istanbul Favourite

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Serena Williams starts a strong favourite to win a second successive WTA Championships as the end-of-season finale begins in Istanbul on Tuesday.

The world number one has only lost four matches and won 10 titles this season, more than any other year of her career.

She will face Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Angelique Kerber in the group stages in Turkey.

"It's a tough group," Williams said. "That's the thing about this event, you have to be ready from the first match."

Eight of the top nine in the world rankings - world number three Maria Sharapova is injured - are split into two groups of four, with the top two in each qualifying for the semi-finals.

Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, who has beaten Williams twice this year, heads the other group, which includes China's Li Na, Sara Errani of Italy and Serb Jelena Jankovic.

Three group matches will be played on each of the first four days.

Tuesday's opening day sees Belarusian Azarenka start against Errani (15:00 BST) before Williams faces Germany's Kerber (17:00 BST) and Radwanska of Poland plays the Czech Republic's Kvitova (19:00 BST).

Williams, 32, won the French Open and US Open this year to take her total of Grand Slam titles to 17, one short of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert and five behind Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22.

"I never thought I would have one of my best years this year, and now there is an opportunity to do even better," she added.

"I'm still looking to improve and...I have a lot of room for improvement. I am interested for next year to take my game to a new level, which I think I can do.

"It's going to be even tough for me to get to 18 [ Grand Slams]. Obviously that's my goal, but I take it one match at a time."

The American is aiming to become the first player to defend a WTA Championships crown since Justine Henin in 2007. If she achieves the feat, it would be her fourth title overall.

While Kvitova, who won in 2011, is a dangerous opponent on a fast indoor surface, neither she nor Radwanska has ever beaten Williams, while Kerber can boast one victory from their three previous meetings.

Jankovic is the only player to qualify this year who was not in the field 12 months ago. The Serb is back among the top eight of the season for the first time since 2010.

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Czech's Make Good Fed Cup Start

The Czech Republic took a giant step towards successfully retaining the Fed Cup, by winning both singles on the opening day of the 2012 final against Serbia in Prague.

Straight sets victories for Lucie Safarova and Petra Kvitova have moved the reigning champions into a commanding 2-0 lead in this best-of-five two-day title decider in the Czech capital.

Safarova proved too strong for Ana Ivanovic, as she beat the former world No 1 6-4 6-3 in the opening contest at the O2 Arena, before Kvitova enjoyed an even easier win over Jelena Jankovic 6-4 6-1.

Safarova, the world No 17, sealed a straightforward triumph by breaking Ivanovic to love in the ninth game of the second set and admitted she was delighted to start the contest in positive fashion.

She said: "After I lost both matches in the final last year, I desperately wanted to win.

"We were both nervous at the start but I got rid of it and I was improving throughout the match."

The beaten world No 12 made eight double-faults and 32 unforced errors, and she added: "I'm very disappointed. I had plenty of opportunities but I just wasn't executing when it was important. It was very frustrating."

And Kvitova needed just 81 minutes to make it 2-0 against another former world No 1 Jankovic.

From 2-4 down in the opening set, Kvitova reeled off nine straight games before Jankovic stopped the rot at 0-5 in the second.

But by then it was too little, too late for the shell-shocked Serbs, as world No 8 Kvitova coasted across the finishing line with plenty to spare.

A happy Kvitova said: "I was surprised by how I played," as Jankovic suffered her first Fed Cup defeat in two years.

The Czechs are chasing a seventh Fed Cup title while Serbia are contesting their first final.

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Serena Best Defending Champ Kvitova

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Serena Williams beat defending champion Petra Kvitova in straight sets to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.

While rain fell at SW19, the American sixth seed produced a series of punishing winners to defeat the Czech 6-3 7-5 under the Centre Court roof.

The four-time champion will play Victoria Azarenka next after the second seed beat Tamira Paszek 6-3 7-6 (7-4).

Eighth seed Angelique Kerber was a 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 winner over Sabine Lisicki in the all German clash.

Kerber will play third seed Agnieszka Radwanska , who beat 17th seed Maria Kirilenko 7-5 4-6 7-5.

Williams told BBC Sport that she had the "time of her life" in what was her first match under the roof.

"I had to step it up today because I was playing the defending champion, it was tough," said the 30-year-old.

"It's exciting. Everyone thinks about lifting the trophy. It's something I've thought about, but my main goal is to keep progressing.

"If I want to win the title, I have to step it up. There are a lot of people vying for it. I'm happy just to be in the tournament."

Kvitova had not lost at Wimbledon since being beaten by Williams in the 2010 semi-finals, but was blasted off court by the 13-time Grand Slam champion, who sent down 13 aces and had an 86% first-serve success rate.

Once Williams recovered from serving at 30-0 down in the opening game of the match she barely looked back, sealing the break she needed to take the first set in the sixth.

Kvitova improved in the second set, finding lines with regularity and forcing a set point in the 10th game.

But after the fourth seed netted with a routine one-hander, Williams forced a decisive break in the next game and served out for victory.

Azarenka broke her unseeded opponent at 4-3 before serving out the first set, the Belarusian bullying her Austrian rival at times.

She served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set only to be broken on both occasions, her serve having been rock-solid until then.

But the 21-year-old Paszek's commendable resolve was finally ground down in the tie-breaker, Azarenka prevailing 7-4.

Lisicki, who knocked out Maria Sharapova in the fourth round, saved three match points in the second set and served for the match at 5-3 in the third.

But Kerber, 24, bounced back to win the last four games, finally converting her fifth match point when Lisicki sent a backhand wide.

Afterwards, Kerber said it was difficult playing against someone she has known since they were children.

"We've known each other from a young age and it was mentally not easy," admitted Kerber after reaching the semi-finals at SW19 for the first time.

"It doesn't matter who you play out there. You need to play your best. I stuck to my plan and I think I did a great job."

The match between Radwanska and Kirilenko started on Court One but was suspended because of rain, with the deciding set going with serve at 4-4.

Initially it was announced the match would be finished on Wednesday but it was unexpectedly switched to Centre Court and restarted at roughly 2130.

And Radwanska it was who felt the benefit of an extended break, breaking her Russian opponent and wrapping up the match in barely 15 minutes.