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Serena Williams thrashes Sara Errani to reach French Open final

 

Pa
Thursday 06 June 2013 18:52 BST
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Serena Williams was in no mood to hang around at Roland Garros
Serena Williams was in no mood to hang around at Roland Garros

Maria Sharapova will have to end a nine-year losing streak against Serena Williams if she is to take home a second successive French Open title.

The world's top two players reached the final in contrasting fashion today, with Sharapova battling for two hours and 10 minutes to see off Victoria Azarenka 6-1 2-6 6-4.

Williams, meanwhile, routed last year's runner-up Sara Errani 6-0 6-1 in only 46 minutes to reach her first final at Roland Garros since she won her only title in 2002.

With an obvious difference in power between the two, there was always a concern it could be a horribly one-sided match, and so it proved.

Williams has been in superb form, with this win her 30th in a row, while since a first-round defeat here last year she has won 73 of 76 matches.

Errani simply could do nothing to counter the power coming from the other end of the court, with her serves dispatched back past her before she could move.

The Italian won only eight points in the first set, and had managed just 10 when Williams moved 3-0 up in the second.

The American had looked a little shaky in her quarter-final on Tuesday, fighting back from a break down in the decider to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova, but she was a woman on a mission today.

Errani finally got on the board in the fourth game of the second set, raising her arms aloft, but she had little to celebrate as Williams swiftly reeled off the next three games, dropping just 18 points and finishing with her fifth ace.

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