Venus Williams defeated sister Serena 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 on Friday to reach the final of the Dubai Championships. She next faces unseeded Virginie Razzano of France, who put out 16th seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-1, 6-2. World number one Serena double-faulted twice as Venus broke for a 1-0 lead and then twice more when she broke again to go 4-1 up in the first set. While Serena struggled to get going, Venus swept through her three service games without conceding a point. Serena struck the ball much better in the second set and broke serve in the third and seventh games to level the match. In a highly competitive final set, Serena broke to lead 2-1. She then saved three break points with aces in a remarkable sixth game before conceding a fourth break point. World number six Venus then had to serve her way out of trouble at 5-5, firing two aces on break points before going on to take the tiebreak 7-3. Tsonga-Djokovic clash set In Marseille, local favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga set up a mouth-watering semifinal clash with top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia when he downed Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 at the Marseille Open on Friday. World number three Djokovic breezed into the last four with a 6-3, 6-3 win over unheralded German Mischa Zverev. The Marseille crowd was also offered an all-French semifinal. Michael Llodra beat Russian Mikhail Youzhny 7-6, 7-6 and will face second seed Gilles Simon, who was merciless in a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Julien Benneteau. Hewitt, Rochus in quarters Lleyton Hewitt and Christophe Rochus reached the quarterfinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis on Thursday. Hewitt took another step back from major hip surgery last August, defeating fellow Australian Chris Guccione 6-2, 7-6 (4). Rochus beat seventh-seeded Mardy Fish 6-2, 6-4. Second-seeded Juan Martin del Potro cruised into the quarters with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Radek Stepanek beat Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-2, 6-4, Igor Kunitsyn of Russia rallied past Philipp Petzschner of Germany 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and Israeli qualifier Dudi Sela won 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) over Florent Serra of France. Andy Roddick blew away fellow American Robby Ginepri 6-2, 6-3 to move into the third round. Roddick will meet American Sam Querrey, who beat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-1, 6-2. In the women's Cellular South Cup, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated Dutch qualifier Michaella Krajicek 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semifinals, where she'll meet Anne Keothavong of Britain. Lucie Safarova was eliminated by Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 6-4. Keothavong survived a 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 match with fifth-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand. Victoria Azarenka of Belarus advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Pauline Parmentier of France. Acasuso, Monaco in last 8 Two-time finalist Jose Acasuso defeated Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of his hometown Copa Telmex on Thursday. Juan Monaco, the 2007 champion of his hometown event, beat another local, Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2. Monaco will face Maximo Gonzalez. Oscar Hernandez beat Diego Junqueira 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6
