Venus reaches Madrid final

MADRID: Venus Williams won the last nine games in a dominant display as she crushed Israeli Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-0 to reach the final of the WTA Madrid Masters, her fourth final from six events in 2010.

The American fourth seed – who will move to second on the WTA list behind her sister Serena tomorrow – will be bidding for her 44th career title and third of the year when she faces unseeded Aravane Rezai. Williams overcame a minor niggle through an opening break of serve by the 22ndranked Israeli, who upset fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the opening round a week ago.

“We exchanged a couple of breaks, she’s a really tenacious player,” said Williams who will be bidding for her tenth career title on clay but has claimed only two at the top WTA tournaments - in Rome 11 years ago and Charleston in 2004.

Nadal in final

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal dropped his first set of the week but recovered to record a stirring 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 defeat of fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro to reach his second successive Madrid Masters final. On the other hand, defending champion Roger Federer, who claimed a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over his Latvian opponent Ernests Gulbis, will face Spanish ninth seed David Ferrer in the other semi-final.

Published in the Express Tribune, May  16th, 2010.