Top seed Venus Williams yesterday stormed past US Open finalist Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-2 in the WTA Elite Trophy semi-finals in an ominous display as she seeks her third title of the year.
The seven-time Grand Slam winner did not hang around at the purpose-built arena in Zhuhai, China, with six breaks of serve as she wrapped it up in 65 minutes.
Venus, 35, who is resurgent after a long battle with auto-immune disease Sjogren’s Syndrome, collected her 40th main-draw win of the season — her highest tally since 2008.
The victory will also have been cheered by Venus’ younger sister, Serena, whose shock defeat to Vinci in the US Open semis halted her bid for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.
Venus also beat Vinci in the semi-finals en route to her 47th career title at the Wuhan Open last month, in what has been a fruitful end-of-year swing for the veteran.
Venus has not collected three titles in a season since 2008, the year she last won a Grand Slam tournament when she triumphed for a fifth time at Wimbledon.
The WTA Elite Trophy is a new event with a field of 12 and intended as a second-tier version of the WTA Finals, which is played between the top eight and was won last week by Agnieszka Radwanska.
Venus is to play today’s final against Czech Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the late semi-final last night.
Pliskova won 6-3, 6-1 in a little over an hour.
In doubles round-robin play, Spanish duo Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja defeated Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska of Poland, 6-3, 6-2.
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