• US Open

Williams books Wozniacki clash in US Open final

Serena Williams was dominant in all departments against Ekaterina Makarova © AP

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Serena Williams was all but unplayable as she booked her spot in an eighth US Open final, dispatching Ekaterina Makarova with a 6-1 6-3 victory.

The world No.1 will face Caroline Wozniacki in Sunday's final after Peng Shuai retired with heat illness while trailing the Danish No.10 seed in the day's first semi-final.

Williams is now one win away from her 18th grand slam singles title; a sixth US Open thouphy would draw the 32-year-old level with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and put her in sight of Steffi Graf's Open era record of 22 titles.

She is also on course for completing the US Open Series-US Open double, with a bonus prize of $1 million on offer on top of the $3m winner's cheque after winning warm-up events in Stanford and Cincinnati.

"It's definitely given me a lot of confidence here, having played so much this summer," Williams said of her decision to play three US hard-court events prior to the US Open.

On facing friend Wozniacki in the final, she added: "She wants to win her first grand slam, and I'm trying to make a little history myself. Either way I'll be happy with the outcome."

Makarova came in to the match with a grand slam victory over Williams to her name, in the fourth round of the 2012 Australian Open, but the top seed in New York was in no mood for a repeat.

The first set disappeared in just 26 minutes as the Russian was blown away by an impressive all-court display from Williams. Her first serve may not have been firing in the early exchanges but the world No.1 was dominant in all other departments, hitting a dozen winners in all.

Things got no better for Makarova early in the second set as Williams broke twice more to move 4-0 ahead. From there the Russian battled to two holds and broke Williams as she served for the match, the world No.1 firing four unforced errors to give up the game.

As had the No.17 seed secured a foothold in the match, delighting the crowd with a brief flurry of winners of her own, than it was over. Williams proved just too consistent for Makarova, who fired one last forehand wide to hand victory to the five-time former champion in exactly an hour.

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