When two celebrated sisters took the court on Thursday night in Miami, a slightly new feel enveloped the biggest rivalry in modern women’s tennis. At the end of their 20th match, Serena and Venus Williams did nothing to change the way these siblings are perceived.

In a battle that fell short of a classic but didn’t disappoint in terms of competitive quality, Serena outlasted her older sister, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, to advance to the finals of the Sony Ericsson Open. Serena will face 11th-seeded Victoria Azarenka on Saturday afternoon.

Over the past few years, the Williams sisters could only be counted on to perform at the year’s biggest tournaments. Any event other than the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open hasn’t always witnessed the presence of the most dominant players on the WTA Tour. The spate of tournament absences attached to the Williamses in the middle part of this decade have been partially responsible for creating a vacuum in the upper reaches of women’s tennis. With the retirement of former No. 1 Justine Henin and the injury-related problems suffered by Maria Sharapova, the WTA Tour has encountered even more chaos of late. Several talented players have all made solid runs at certain Grand Slam tournaments, but none of them have shown the elite-level consistency worthy of a top-tier champion. Dinara Safina has reached a pair of finals and Jelena Jankovic made last September’s U.S. Open final, but neither player has carried much momentum into the American spring hardcourt swing of the 2009 season. Ana Ivanovic and Vera Zvonareva have shown flashes of great form, as has Azarenka, but women’s tennis is now a realm in which the Williams sisters enjoy even more dominance. Such a development makes the WTA Tour feel like 2001 and 2002, when the children of Richard Williams and Oracene Price were gobbling up every title in sight.

How fitting it is, then, that in a Sony Ericsson Open where the bottom half of the bracket turned into a bomb shelter on the first weekend, the Williamses maintained order in the top half of the draw. When placed together in a semifinal showdown, Serena and Venus–though not in their very best form–nevertheless displayed the athleticism, power hitting, and all-around shotmaking that has defined the two siblings as the giants of their sport. The likes of Henin and Sharapova, when at their best, could consistently pose problems for these super sisters, but there’s no active player in the women’s game who can match Serena or Venus in a money situation. The mortal combat witnessed on Thursday night in Miami proved as much.

The Williams sisters–who dueled at last year’s season-ending championships and then brought their road show to Dubai in February–only affirmed their run of excellence by meeting in yet another non-Grand Slam tournament. According to Chinese tradition, 2009 is the year of the Ox. On the WTA Tour, 2009 is shaping up as the year of the Williams sisters.

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