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

Venus will try to defend her title from last year on Sunday, while Serena won the event in 2001 and has been runner-up twice.

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

Wozniacki received medical treatment on her stomach in the first set and quit after breaking Williams to start the second. The 19-year-old Dane has been battling injuries all week, and reiterated after the match that aching abdominal muscles were affecting her serve.

“She’s been struggling throughout the entire tournament,” Serena said. “She’s just an incredible fighter to come out here today and put up an effort.”

After chasing down a drop shot and hitting a forehand winner for the break, Wozniacki pulled up and told the chair umpire she couldn’t continue. The U.S. Open finalist exchanged hugs and handshakes with Serena, explaining her decision with an apologetic smile.

“It was just too much for me to keep playing,” Wozniacki said. “I used all my strength I had left.”

Serena has also been playing with her left thigh strapped, and she pulled out of next weekend’s Fed Cup final against Italy.

“I think I’m just going to be wiped out by the end of this,” she said. “I’m literally giving everything I have.”

Venus trailed 2-0 in the decisive set against Jankovic but broke the former top-ranked Serb three times in a row en route to a 5-3 lead. The defending champion then saved a break point in the last game before sealing the win with a forehand on a net cord.

“In the first set, I couldn’t feel the ball,” Venus said. “Just to come back ... to play so well against such a consistent player is great.”

Jankovic had just two winners in the first set, but Williams was done in by her inconsistent forehand and 23 unforced errors. She cleaned up her game in the second, hitting a forehand winner to break for 4-2 and holding the next game at love before serving out the set with a 119 mph ace.

Both players finished with more unforced errors than winners — 49 to 43 for Williams and 34 to 17 for Jankovic. Williams’ serve was equally inconsistent, mixing 10 aces with 11 double-faults.

It was the ninth three-setter in 10 meetings between the two, with the head-to-head series now 5-5. Their last meeting was also in the semifinals in Doha last year.

Jankovic has seen her ranking slip from No. 1 to No. 8 this year, and she was the last player to qualify for Doha. After a short vacation, she will go to work on reversing that trend.

“That will be my goal, to get up there to the top again,” Jankovic said. “I have the ability to do that.”

Venus reached this year’s semis despite winning just one of her three round-robin matches, the first player to do so since Amelie Mauresmo in 2003. She clinched a berth when Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Elena Dementieva in the last group round Friday and now seems determined to make the most of her lucky break.

“This is my last tournament of the year, so I’m giving a thousand percent,” she said.