Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reacts during her match against Italian Sara Errani during their Rome Masters semi-final match played in Rome, Italy, yesterday. Azarenka won 6-0, 7-5. RIGHT: Serena Williams returns the ball to Simona Halep from Romania during their Rome Masters semi-final match.
ROME: World number one Serena Williams said she hoped to improve her game for the French Open after easing into the Rome Open final with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Simona Halep which ended the qualifier’s dream week in the Italian capital.
Williams, the 15-times Grand Slam winner, stretched her run of consecutive wins to 23 on her way to Sunday’s final, where she will meet Victoria Azarenka in a final for the first time since her defeat to the Belarusian earlier this year in Doha.
Azarenka, the third seed, proved too strong for Italian hopeful Sara Errani in a 6-0, 7-5 win in the other semi-final that was interrupted by rain twice and once by Errani, who called for her coach after losing the first three games.
Williams, meanwhile, will head to next week’s French Open as one of the favourites and with revenge on her mind after a shock defeat in last year’s tournament to Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano.
Ahead of that challenge, the 30-year-old American will be hoping for a more telling workout against Azarenka after a limpid semi-final in which Romanian Halep failed to offer any kind of challenge.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal reached the final after dominating Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-4 in the semi-finals.
Berdych had caused the first major upset of the tournament when he ousted world number one Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
However, despite an improved second set performance against the fifth seed, the Czech could not match Nadal’s power as the Spaniard put himself within touch of a second title inside a week following his Madrid Masters triumph last Sunday.
The big Czech was given little chance by six-time champion Nadal, who after back-to-back three-set matches looked keen to get this semi-final over and done with as quickly as possible.
Nadal, who has now reached eight finals in as many events since his return from a seven-month injury lay-off, broke Berdych twice in the opening set, including in the opening game.
Meanwhile, second seed Roger Federer will meet six-time winner Nadal in the final after a hard-fought 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 semi-final win over Frenchman Benoit Paire. Paire has been one of the sensations of the tournament and pushed his Swiss rival to a first set tiebreak.
However, Federer raised his game in an equally tight second set to advance. AFP
