Black Tennis Pros

American Venus Williams unable to continue her run in Bangkok as Italy's Flavia Pennetta stops her with a 6-4, 7-6 win to reach the Bangkok Open final on Saturday.

Pennetta held her nerve as Venus launched a determined fightback, the Italian emerging victorious in a marathon second set tiebreak to end her opponent's hopes of reaching a third straight WTA final.

"She played really well, she was eager," a sombre-looking Williams told reporters. "I made a lot of errors, a lot of mistakes. She did a good job of staying in the match.

"I wasn't surprised by her, she's capable of playing well."

Pennetta, world no. 49 said, "I was against such a great player. I just had to go for it, because anything can happen."

The seventh seed unleashed some powerful serves and venomous groundstrokes and chased everything the lofty American threw at her, breaking serve at 5-4 to take the first set.

Pennetta broke her opponent at 2-2 in the second and with the help of a succession of double faults and sloppy returns from Williams, opened up a comfortable 4-2 cushion.

However, the winner of 36 WTA titles came straight back, whacking a series of topspin-loaded forehands to turn the match around and move ahead 6-5.

Pennetta levelled to force a tense tiebreak, which she clung on win 10-8, punching the air with both fists and breathing a huge sigh of relief.

"That was one of the most beautiful wins of my career," Pennetta told reporters.

"When she came back, I started to think I'd lost my chance to win. I knew it would be a tough match. I was a little nervous but I played good tennis."

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Bangkok Open Flavia Pennetta