Evening all, and welcome to what should be an excellent match. Kvitova is back to somewhere near her best - she had to be to see off Muguruza in the last round - while Venus is Venus. Of course, it's possible that Kvitova isn't yet ready to deliver on the reg, but if she is, she'll have too much for the old mistress.

And with that, it's goodnight from here; that was ace.

"I try to tell myself to enjoy the competition, enjoy the battle, and I think I was able to do that tonight."

Venus will play Sloane Stephens in the semyes, and thanks the crowd for their support. She then talks about how wonderful it is to see Kvitova back and playing so well, she was excited to see her back and playing so well, excited to play her, and hopes they'll have many more matches together.

Venus serves another fault, but Kvitova goes wide with the backhand return! Venus has won! What a match!

Venus is absolutely elated, Kvitova is absolutely deflated. She scarpers on the verge of tears, but what a woman she is. To come back as she has and to play as she did is amazing, and she'll have plenty better nights than this one. In the meantime, she contributed fully to a classic.

Venus serves a double of her own!

Oh dear. Kvitova serves a double, and Venus has five matchpoints!

Kvitova goes long with a forehand, and at change of ends, Venus is nearly there!

Venus does not look in the mood to let this slip, opening her shoulders to unleash to humungous forehands before consolidating with a big second serve and forehand. Kvitova has a problem.

Kvitova goes long with a forehand to start, but a thumping serve to the backhand levels things before another forehand goes long - the return which precipitated it was a bazzer - thus giving Venus the minibreak.

The standard of play these two have produced under pressure is frankly disgusting, but Kvitova opens this game with a backhand error; Venus responds in kind. There follows another brutal point, dominated by Venus except for the dominance of Kvitova's defence, which eventually gets her 30-15. She then correctly challenges a call of out on her serve - man, she looks done-in - ad wins the point, then the next one with a big serve. Tiebreaker it is, and really the absolute state of these two; incredible, wonderful people.

Venus opens the game with a double but, brought in by a net cord, leaps into a winner that's pretty close to the baseline. She quickly moves to 30-15, but then a needless error opens the door for Kvitova; can she pick the serve? It doesn't matter; it goes down the middle, and the forehand behind it is too good. A long return later, and we're one game away from a deciding tiebreak. What a concept that is to contemplate.

Huge from Kvitova, finding two first serves which deliver two short points. her forehand is working well now, and it dominates the next rally, Venus slicing in response, before Kvitova, from behind the baseline, disguises a wondrous drop shot that slinks over the net and dies! That forehand does the rest, and Kvitova is starting to purr. This is great!

Venus is on one here, chucking everything into every shot. She races to 40-0, but a fine backhand return gives Kvitova a glimmer, and a screaming backhand down the line makes it a beam! Venus responds with a huge serve and forehand to the corner, but Kvitova confuses her with a loopy, clever backhand that alters momentum; deuce! Ace! Double fault! Deuce! This is breathless stuff now! Venus finds a serve of 120mph, her fastest of the match, but another knackering rally ends with her netting a volley! Kvitova's defence, making her hit more and more balls, is right there. But there's nothing she can do when sent out wide with the next serve; Venus nails a forehand down the line for yet another advantage. And yet again she can't convert, Kvitova forcing the error; I'm exhausted just watching this. Venus is putting everything into everything, and eventually it works; a huge serve elicits a long return and then Kvitova nets a backhand; she'll now serve to stay in it.

Huge game, this one; can Kvitova feel it slipping away? She looks a little that way! So she wallops down three aces, holding to love! Incredible behaviours! Check back to Venus!

Kvitova's body language is not good, shoulders slumped; she was in, and now she isn't. Venus holds easily, and you'd not back against her now; you'd not back against her breaking again, right now!

Ooh yeah! 15-0 up, Kvitova sends a second serve down the T and it's an ace! She saw Venus gamble and called her bluff! But Venus fights back to 30-all, after which they indulge an attritional rally that ends when Kvitova errs! She's been brilliant on break points so far, but this time she inserts a double fault! Back on serve!

Fantastic hitting from Venus keeps the pressure on; can she find the right returns in 90 seconds? Can Kvitova find some first serves?

Kvitova goes long with a forehand - perhaps Venus will attack that wing, because the other is dynamitee-hee at the moment. But Kvitova has backhand errors in her too, and they take her to 0-40-down. She doesn't panic though, and saves all three break points in short order before sealing the game with an ace. Superbly done!

Neither player is playing especially well, which makes it especially hard to foresee what will happen. Luckily, we don't have to, because we can just wait and see. And at 30-all we see, Kvitova absolutely annihilating a backhand return and then a backhand winner which breaks the sideline! Kvitova need only hold serve and she's in the semye!