Wimbledon champion Venus Williams bravely fought off five match points to stun third seed Patty Schnyder 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 on Saturday and reach the final of the Stanford Classic.
Williams will meet former champion Kim Clijsters who brushed aside Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 6-0.
"Sometimes disaster comes and you just find a way out," Williams said. "Today was a day I just tried to get what I could out of myself."
Schnyder was 6-5 ahead in the second set and looking for her first win over Williams in six meetings but the Swiss just could not find the shot to close out the match.
She missed an easy backhand down the line on her first match point and after that her game unravelled while Williams, the former world number one, managed to raise her game.
"Maybe two players could have gotten to the forehand the down the line that I hit," Schnyder said. "I didn't expect the speed of her return to be so fast and I couldn't control the backhand."
On Schnyder's next four match points, the American hit a volley winner and a backhand overhead, watched the Swiss double fault and then crushed an inside out forehand winner.
On the fourth match point, Schnyder believed that she hit an ace, although a television replay showed that the ball was out.
Williams then broke Schnyder to level at 6-6 when she ripped a backhand down the line winner.
The second-seeded American played an aggressive tiebreaker, firing down two aces and winning it when her opponent committed two straight forehand errors.
"If you come back from five match points down and you just come from winning Wimbledon, there's no way you lose after that," Schnyder said.
A despondent Schnyder could not raise her performance again in the third set and Williams won the contest when she hit a backhand winner.
Williams has been on a whirlwind tour during the past five weeks, grinding to her first Grand Slam title in four year at Wimbledon, travelling to Moscow the next week for the United States' 4-1 loss to Russia, and then returning to America to promote her and sister Serena's new TV reality show and compete in World TeamTennis.
CLIJSTERS THROUGH
In the second semi, 20-year-old Groenefeld looked like she was going to give Clijsters tremendous trouble as she ripped huge serves of up to 120 mph and went all out on her returns.
The German broke Clijsters to 4-3, but the Belgian fought back to win the next nine straight games to win the match.
Clijsters was able to get a better read on her opponent's serves and adeptly moved the 6-feet-tall Groenefeld with sharply angled groundstrokes.
"I knew even when I was down that if I can bring back the returns and not make many mistakes, that she might begin to have problems," said Clijsters, who committed only five unforced errors.
Williams and Clijsters have played eight times, with Venus winning six of those contests.
"We play similar games," Venus said. "We're good at covering the court and hitting hard. What's different is I'm able to play that game a little better, serve and return better, run a few more balls down. I step up more."
Clijsters said that she can't afford to back off the ball.
"She can raise her level even when she's not playing her best," Clijsters said. "You have to stay aggressive and not let her get back into matches because when she has to play great, she does."
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