Venus, Mauresmo reach final

WARSAW, Poland (Ticker) -- Venus Williams is far from her best but still advanced to her third final of the season Saturday at the $700,000 J&S Cup claycourt event.

The top-seeded American got past Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic, 6-3 7-6 (7-5), in 96 minutes and will face Amelie Mauresmo in Sunday's championship match.

Mauresmo, the second seed from France, posted a 7-5, 6-2 victory over No. 4 Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia in the second semifinal.

With the match starting in warm sunshine, Williams lost her opening serve but immediately broke back. With Chladkova battling for every point, Williams managed to hang on and take the set.

Chladkova, who at 24 has never won a WTA tour title, did not get discouraged. She clung on and pushed Williams even harder.

With dark clouds now overhead and a strong wind suddenly blowing, Chladkova broke Williams' serve to grab a 3-1 lead in the second set but allowed the American to climb into a tiebreaker, where her experience came to the fore.

"It was a good match. I got a lot of balls but she played well and definitely got a lot of balls back," Williams said. "I was thinking too much about the shots rather than just playing. I made too many mistakes which I won't do again in tomorrow's final."

Playing just her fourth tournament of the year, Williams was runner-up at the Australian Open in January - the fourth straight loss to her sister Serena in a Grand Slam final - and won at Antwerp for her 29th career title. Last week, she teamed with her top-ranked sibling to lead the United States to a first-round triumph in Fed Cup.

Mauresmo will go for her ninth career tournament victory on Sunday, but is winless in five prior meetings with Williams.

The two will also vie for the $103,500 winners check offered by this Tier II event.

 

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