DEFENDING champion Venus Williams reached the final of the WTA championships in Doha, Qatar, after beating Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic 5-7 6-3 6-4. The American will face her sister, Serena, who overcame Caroline Wozniacki after the Dane pulled out with a stomach injury while trailing 4-6 1-0.

Venus was plagued by unforced errors as she lost the first set and Jankovic had chances in the second, particularly when she squandered three break points at 2-2. Jankovic gained the early advantage in a deciding set in which both players struggled to hold serve, but Venus hit back and broke three times to serve for the match at 5-4.‘In the first set I couldn’t feel the ball and couldn’t seem to get a ball in,’ said Venus, who needed treatment on her knee. ‘But this is my last tournament of the year so I’m giving 1,000%.’

Serena said: ‘She’s [Wozniacki] been struggling through the entire tournament. She’s just an incredible fighter to come out here today and put up an effort.’

UKRAINIAN qualifier Andriy Stakhovsky advanced to his second ATP final by beating Marat Safin of Russia 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the semi-finals of the St Petersburg Open. He will play Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, who beat Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 7-6 6-3.

IVAN LJUBICIC of Croatia reached the final of the Lyons Grand Prix by beating Arnaud Clement of France 6-2 6-4. Ljubicic, the only non-French player in the semis, will face wildcard Michael Llodra, who defeated Gilles Simon 6-7 6-3 7-6.

GOLF IAN POULTER let slip a five-stroke lead at the Singapore Open before a thunderstorm led to play being suspended. Poulter completed a seven-under-par 64 second round early in the day but two bogeys and a double-bogey got his third round off to a miserable start at Sentosa. France’s Thomas Levet and Japan’s Kodai Ichihara were tied with Poulter on eight under when play was stopped. Poulter recorded seven birdies in his second round to lead at that stage by five from Sweden’s Daniel Chopra and Chan Yih-Shin of Chinese Taipei.

CRICKET HALF-CENTURIES from Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped India to a six-wicket victory over Australia in the third one-dayer at Delhi and a 2-1 lead in the seven-match series. Ricky Ponting, who opened the innings with Shane Watson (41), gave the visitors a steady start with 59, while Michael Hussey anchored the middle order with 81 not out off 82 deliveries as Australia finished on 229 for five. Yuvraj scored 78 while Dhoni made an unbeaten 71, the two batsmen putting on 148 for the fourth wicket as India overhauled the target with 1.4 overs to spare.

BANGLADESH took a 2-1 series lead with a four-wicket win in the third one-day international against Zimbabwe in Mirpur. Tamim Iqbal hit 80 runs from 72 deliveries as the Tigers reached the target of 197 with more than nine overs to spare. He shared a second-wicket stand of 98 with Mohammad Ashraful (63).

RACING DEEP PURPLE prevailed in a thrilling finish to the bet365.com Charlie Hall Chase to give Evan Williams consecutive victories in the Wetherby showpiece. Ollie Magern looked to have secured the win but Deep Purple and Tamarinbleu came through to pass him and battle to the finish.

DARRYLL HOLLAND has been arrested in connection with passing counterfeit money in Cyprus. Peter Merchant, the jockey’s manager, said he was hoping Holland, 37, would be released by police on Thursday. Holland was with a friend in the Kyrenia area of northern Cyprus last week.

TABLE TENNIS ENGLAND’S No 1 Paul Drinkhall was knocked out of the English Open second round by Qi Chen of China. The European junior champion was beaten 11-3 11-5 12-10 11-6 in Sheffield. Portugal’s Tiago Apolonia followed his win over Wang Liqin by beating Korea’s Joo Se-Hyuk. Oh Sang Eun of Korea was defeated by Andrej Gacina of Croatia but the top three seeds, Ma Long, Timo Boll and Ma Lin, qualified for the last 16.