Venus routs Dementieva to reach Stanford final

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:39

Venus Williams will meet Marion Bartoli in the final of the Bank of the West Classic after routing Elena Dementieva 6-0 6-1.

Bartoli won a roller-coaster match against Samantha Stosur 6-3 1-6 6-1 to set up a repeat of the 2007 Wimbledon final.

Dementieva was never in the match as Williams ensured she couldn’t settle on serve.

The American dumped five double faults of her own, but broke the Russian five times as her old serving demons returned with a vengeance. A 43% first-serve percentage proved terminal as Williams crushed the Dementieva second serve.

“I raised my level on important points,” said Williams. “Things really went well for me on court today.”

Dementieva’s early season form looked to have returned as she pushed Serena to match point in their Wimbledon semi-final, but she was no match for her rejuvenated older sister in Stanford.

“She was just too good from the baseline,” admitted Dementieva. “I was always in trouble out there.”

Williams’ victory over Dementieva is her sixth in succession over the Russian.

In the other semi-final, Bartoli needed two hours to eventually beat Stosur in the pair’s second meeting in four seasons.

After breaking in the first game of the match to seal the first set, the Frenchwoman lost her way in the second as Stosur stormed back to level the match with a pair of breaks.

But Bartoli wrested control of the third set to run out the victory despite ten aces from the Australian.

The French winner has now reached back-to-back Stanford finals at the venue, having lost to Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak last year – and her chances don’t look much better against an inspired Williams this time around.

Venus hammered Bartoli in straight sets when they played for the Championships title two years ago.

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