 The first pitted seven-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams against Shahar Pe'er of Israel.The unseeded Williams lost the first set 6–3 but grew in confidence in the second set to take it 6–2 and push it to a deciding set.Pe'er looked on-form for victory when she went up 6–5 in the final set, and just a few points from her first major semi-final, but it was Williams who then showed her fighting spirit by winning the next three games to wrap up the 3–6, 6–2, 8–6 victory and become one of the ten lowest-ranked women in the Open Era to compete in a Grand Slam semi-final.