Venus soars into last four

Williams, 27, was broken twice in the opening set, including the first game, and dropped her first set of the tournament. But after losing her serve to start the second set, she turned it on, winning six consecutive games in a dominant 29-minute second set.

Neither player was able to break in the final set but Williams would hold sway in the tiebreaker, finishing the match with a swinging forehand volley.

Jankovic came out aggressive and sharp, breaking Williams in the evening's first game after dropping in a topspin lob over the 12th-seed's lanky 6-foot-1 frame. She got another break when she ripped her trademark backhand winner down the line, blocking back Williams' first serve to take a 4-1 lead.

Williams reeled off three of the next four games as her powerful groundstrokes began taking control but the two early breaks were too much to overcome as Jankovic took the set 6-4.

However, the second set was almost the exact opposite of the first as Jankovic was overpowered by Williams. The rallies grew shorter as Williams blasted away, running Jankovic from side to side.

The third set was a tighter affair as both players held serve to take the match into a deciding tiebreaker.

Jankovic started the tiebreak by missing a backhand and Williams then sent a forehand wide, but followed with a forehand approach to go up 2-1.

Jankovic would miss her next three forehands, dumping them into the net while Williams missed two of her own forehands, but ended the match with a winning volley two points later.

Williams moves on to face top seed Justin Henin, who ousted Venus' younger sister Serena in the quarter-finals.