Williams to meet Ivanovic in semis of Italian Open semis

Top seed Serena Williams beat Chinese rising star Zhang Shuai in straight sets to set up a semi-final clash with Ana Ivanovic at the Italian Open.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion took little over an hour to hold off Zhang 6-1, 6-3, throwing down 35 winners to just 22 unforced errors Friday, reports Xinhua.

Williams leads Ivanovic 4-1 in their head-to-head, and the only time she lost to the Serbian player was in the Australia Open earlier this year.

"Whenever you play someone you lose to, you're not necessarily thinking about revenge, you're thinking\, I really want to win because they beat me last time," Williams told WTA website.

"It's more motivation than anything, because last time they got the best of you, and you want to show them you can play too," she said.

The No.11-seeded Ivanovic was the first of the pair to advance, pulling off a grueling 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over No.13 seed Carla Suarez Navarro.

The other semi-final will be played between No.6 seed Jelena Jankovic and No.10 seed Sara Errani.