- Internazionali BNL d'Italia
Serena powers into Rome final
Serena Williams made it 23 wins in a row as she powered into the final of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia with a straight-sets win over Simona Halep.
Halep battled through qualifying to reach the semi-finals in Rome and she tested Williams in the first set, but the No. 1 seed has been in sizzling form this week and she powered away for a 6-3 6-0 win.
Halep was not fazed by the prospect of facing Williams and she broke once and had other chances in the opening set.
But Williams simply had too much firepower. The world No. 1 fended off a break point in the ninth game and two points later she wrapped up the opening set.
Williams broke at the start of the second set and it knocked the stuffing out of her Romanian opponent. She had dropped only seven games on her way to the last-four and Halep did not make any inroads in the second as the American powered into the final.
Williams will face the woman she wrestled the world No. 1 ranking off, Victoria Azarenka as the Belarusian dampened the home crowd with a 6-0 7-5 win over Sara Errani.