Williams sisters to meet in Sony final

The Williams sisters will end their season with another title matchup.

Venus Williams defeated Jelena Jankovic, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, on Saturday in one semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Championships at Doha, Qatar. Serena Williams won the other when Caroline Wozniacki quit because of an abdominal injury while trailing, 6-4, 0-1.

Serena, who secured the year-end No. 1 ranking last week, is returning to the final of the WTA Tour’s season-ending championships for the first time since 2004. She was knocked out in the group stage the last two years, but was the only player to go undefeated through the round-robin rounds this time.

“I just came in here trying to do my best, and here I am,” she said.

Serena won the event in 2001 and has been runner-up twice. Today, Venus will defend her title from last year.

“It’s wonderful, I’m so excited,” Venus said. “It’s the way I wanted to end my year.”

Serena beat Venus in this year’s Wimbledon final, the fourth time they played each other for that Grand Slam title.

The sisters were back on the court about 30 minutes after Serena’s win to compete in the four-team doubles event. They missed out on a second final, however, losing to Spaniards Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, 2-6, 6-4, 10-8, after a champions tiebreaker.

Top-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia and Jurgen Melzer of Austria won semifinal matches and will play for the BA Tennis Trophy title at Vienna.

Cilic beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Melzer, seeded seventh, rallied past Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

GOLF

Fisher, Kim in match-play final

Ross Fisher beat Masters champion Angel Cabrera on the third playoff hole to set up a World Match Play Championship final against Anthony Kim at Casares, Spain.

Fisher won, 1-up, after Cabrera needed five shots to reach the green on the final hole. Fisher had sent his second shot from 244 yards within five feet of the pin in fading light at the Finca Cortesin golf course.

Kim advanced by beating Robert Allenby, 5 and 4.

John Cook took a six-stroke lead in a bid for his second Champions Tour victory in three weeks, shooting a five-under-par 67 in the third round of the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Sonoma, Calif.

Cook had a 19-under 197 total on the Sonoma Golf Club course, the best 54-hole score in a 72-hole tournament since Jack Nicklaus also had a 197 total in the 1990 Senior Players Championship. Cook shot a tournament-record 62 on Friday.

Russ Cochran (68) was second at 13 under.

PGA Tour officials canceled the weather-plagued Viking Classic at Madison, Miss., because of unplayable course conditions. There will be no makeup date.

BASKETBALL

USC hosts an exhibition game

The USC men’s basketball team, ranked ninth in the Pacific 10 Conference preseason media poll, will play host to Division II Cal State Dominguez Hills in a 2 p.m. exhibition today.

Both teams open the regular season Nov. 17.

-- Pete Thomas

ETC.

Agent: Johnson’s suspension cut

The agent for Kansas City’s Larry Johnson says he and the Chiefs have reached agreement to cut the running back’s two-week suspension in half.

Peter Schaffer told the Associated Press that nothing had been signed, but he expected it to be.

Former Iowa football coach Forest Evashevski, who led the Hawkeyes to two Rose Bowls in the 1950s, has died. He was 91.

Evashevski died Friday night from cancer at his home in Petoskey, Mich. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.