Serena Williams overcame staunch resistance from her sister Venus to win their semi-final at the Bangalore Open.

The pair were meeting for the first time since 2005 and, after withstanding a valiant fightback from her elder sibling, Serena won 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-4).

Serena, 26, takes her career head-to-head record against Venus, 27, to 8-7 in her favour.

Fourth seed Patty Schnyder beat China's Yan Zi 6-3 6-4 in Saturday's first semi-final.

"Venus is one of the best players on the circuit and showed that today," said Serena.

"It was a close game which could have gone either way. The Bangalore crowd is absolutely amazing.

"We would love to come to India all the time."

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