By Tripp Mateschitz, Lawn Tennis Correspondent, Posted: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 3:27pm PST USA

DOHA--(lawntennismag.com) At the Sony Ericsson Championships Wednesday, the Williams sisters; Venus Williams and Serena Williams of the USA, both scored round robin wins to set up a Thursday meeting. The year ending tournament, being placed outdoors in warm Doha, Qatar conditions, started Tuesday in a round robin format. The four players with the best round Serena Williams and Venus Williams of the USA | Photos by Getty Images

The Williams sisters could also play each other in Saturday's semifinals or in Sunday's final, depending on the outcomes of all of the round robin matches. robin results during the course of three matches advance to Saturday's semifinals. This means that the Williams sisters could also play each other in Saturday's semifinals or in Sunday's final, depending on the outcomes of all of the round robin matches. Today Wimbledon champion Venus Williams, seeded 7th, defeated the Olympic champion and 5th seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 only minutes before the US Open champion and the 3rd seed Serena Williams downed 2nd seeded Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4, 6-1. Venus struggled early to hold her serve before cleaning up her game for the win. Serena outhit Safina from the baseline for a quicker victory. “It was just really competitive out there,” Venus said. “Tomorrow I’ll definitely be going for the win, and just taking everything that I can.” Thursday's Williams sisters match will be their fourth meeting of this year with Serena winning at Bangalore and at the US Open and Venus winning in the Wimbledon final. Although their earlier matches which date back to their first WTA Tour meeting in 1998, failed to produce the two sisters' best tennis, all three matches this year have been extraordinary in terms of the quality of play. Venus and Serena Williams I feel play more or less the same attaching power games, but I think Serena has more patience to stay in longer points and also hits a more reliable second serve. Serena's forehand can also be a more solid forehand than Venus' forehand at times. Tomorrow Venus will attempt to overpower Serena and closeout points quickly. But if Serena can keep Venus on the court as she did at the US Open, Venus can produce errors from going for the perfect shots. I think Venus' serve and her error count will be the keys of the match and if Venus can control both she will win. The Williams sisters are scheduled to play Thursday as the second match with the first match starting at 5:00pm Doha time. Doha is 8 hours faster than Eastern Standard Time USA. The Tennis Channel is scheduled to televise the match live. “It’s going to be good and exciting,” Serena said. “She’s pretty much already in the semis. And I’ve got to get there or I want to get there. So I know it’s not going to be easy.” Share: Facebook Digg