Published>Fri, Apr 02 10 02:55 AM
Third seed Venus Williams reached the final of the Sony Ericsson Open after a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over France's Marion Bartoli on Thursday.
Wearing a red 'corset-style' outfit in the bright sunshine, the seven-times grand slam winner was not at her sharpest but still proved too good for out-of-sorts 13th seed Bartoli.
The American broke serve straight away in a first set containing plenty of errors from both players.
After her opponent broke back, Williams responded with a second break thanks to three double-faults.
Bartoli then looked poised for a second-set comeback after breaking to go 3-1 up but Williams broke back immediately with a spectacular cross-court forehand volley and then broke again to clinch victory.
"If I had been able to play the same way in the first set maybe it would have been different. The second set was really tight," Bartoli told reporters.
"In the first set I didn't play that well so I think also for her to be one set up helped her confidence."
Serena Williams, missing the tournament due to injury, watched from the stands as her sister set up a meeting with the winner of the all-Belgian semi-final between Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin being played later on Thursday.
Venus has won the event three times but her last appearance in the final came nine years ago when she beat Jennifer Capriati.
"I'm really happy to be back in this final and obviously I want to take it a step further," she said.
Source: Web Search
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