Williams crushes Vinci to reach Elite Trophy final

Top seed Venus Williams stormed past US Open finalist Roberta Vinci 6-2, 6-2 in the WTA Elite Trophy semis on Saturday 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, southern China with six breaks of serve as she wrapped it up in 65 minutes.

In Sunday's final, Williams will face Czech third seed Karolina Pliskova, who beat Ukraine's Elina Svitoloina 6-3, 6-1 to reach her sixth final of the year.

Earlier Williams, 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 Williams' younger sister Serena, whose shock defeat to Vinci in the US Open semis halted her bid for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam.

Williams also beat Vinci in the semi-finals en route to her 47th career title at last month's Wuhan Open, in what has been a fruitful end-of-year swing for the veteran.

Sunday's final will be the first career meeting between 11th-ranked Williams and Pliskova, the 23-year-old world number 13 who won her fourth career title in Prague this year.

Williams 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 eight-player WTA Finals, which was won last week by Agnieszka Radwanska.

Source: AFP