Unseeded Venus Williams set-up a mouth-watering semi-final meeting with second seed Jelena Jankovic at the Family Circle Cup following her quarter-final victory against Anabel Medina Garrigues on Friday.
Former champion Williams recorded a 6-4 7-5 victory over Medina Garrigues in her last eight meeting, while world number nine Jankovic needed just 50 minutes to ease to an emphatic 6-2 6-0 victory against 12th seed Katarina Srebotnik.
Williams, who won the title in 2004, has already disposed of 14th seed Samantha Stosur, Vasilisa Bardina and qualifier Yung-Jan Chan as she continues her comeback after spending eight months on the sidelines with a wrist injury.
The 26 year-old claimed the first set against Medina Garrigues with a single break of the Spaniard's serve, while maintaining the pressure on her opponent with a strong first serve.
But the two time US Open champion was forced to battle in the second set and was broken twice, while also conceding four double faults, before securing victory in one hour and 36 minutes after recovering from a 0-3 deficit.
After making her furthest progress in the tournament since her 2004 triumph over Conchita Martinez, Williams said: 'I've never played her before, so I expected to stick to the same game plan I've had, but I didn't expect it to be as tough, and I think that I just started making a string of errors that made it tough. There were a few games that went so fast. So that doesn't always help, but she's a really good player, especially on this surface.'
Jankovic, who received a first round bye, dropped just six points on her first serve in recording her third quick-fire win of the week after also disposing of Mara Santangelo and Anastasia Rodinova in under 50 minutes.
Jankovic said: 'I didn't expect to win so easy like this because before we had some tough matches, but today I stayed focused and I did well. I don't know what it is. I'm finishing my matches so early. I haven't been tested yet, but it will be different on Saturday.'
Jankovic claimed a 7-6 4-6 6-4 third round victory over Williams at Wimbledon last year, but the 22-year-old is well aware of the task she faces on Saturday to reach her eighth WTA Tour singles final.
Jankovic added: 'Every surface that we play is a different story, but I'll just try to play my game and we will see how it will go. She (Williams) has one of the best serves in the game, and she moves well. She hits the ball quite hard, and when she's on top of her game, it's tough to beat her, but I will just play my game. I don't really focus on her. I just want to focus on myself and just go out there and enjoy myself.'
Ninth seed Vera Zvonareva ended the challenge of Dutch wildcard Michaella Krajicek in the quarter-finals to book her place in the last four.
Krajicek disposed of number one seed Nicole Vaidisova in the first round, but despite staging a second set fightback, Zvonareva recorded a 6-1 7-5 victory.
Zvonareva will face fourth seed Dinara Safina in the last four after the Russian advanced following the retirement of Tatiana Golovin during their quarter-final match.
Safina had taken the first set 6-3 before Golovin retired prior to the start of the second.
