Williams previously won this tournament in 1999

Venus Williams secured her place in the final of the Zurich Open with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 win over second seed Ana Ivanovic.

There she will face unseeded Italian Flavia Pennetta who beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-3 7-6 (8-6) in the other semi-final.

Williams threw away a 3-0 lead in the first set as two successive breaks of serve put her opponent in charge.

She won the second on her fifth set point and missed three match points in the third set before finally winning.

Pennetta has won her last three meetings with Williams, including beating her in Moscow last week.

"Flavia has worked very hard for the last few years and I'm sure she deserves to be in the final but I'm just hoping tomorrow I deserve the win more," said Williams.

Pennetta holds a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over the 28-year-old American and beat her in Moscow last week.

"I made so many errors in Moscow," said Williams. �I think she has played well all the times we have played."

Pennetta believes her past victories over Williams will count for little.

"Here it is another tournament," she said. "Last week I lost against (Jelena) Jankovic and this week I won so everything can happen."

Pennetta came within a point of going 4-1 down in the opening set of her match with Medina Garrigues before winning five games in a row to take the set.

The second set was more closely fought but Medina Garrigues looked to have gained the upper hand when Penetta's backhand into the net let the Spaniard break for 6-5.

But she was unable to serve out the set, and also blew a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreak, before Pennetta won the match on her first match point, when her opponent's forehand shot went high over the baseline.