Williams cruises into final

Williams cruises into final

Thursday's ATP Tour round-up

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Serena Williams was too strong for Clijsters

Serena Williams brushed aside the challenge of Kim Clijsters to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open in Florida.

The American top seed had little difficulty against the Belgian number three seed as she cruised to a straight sets victory, winning 6-4 6-2.

Clijsters was seen as the player most likely to challenge Williams after sister Venus surprisingly lost to Meghann Shaughnessy.

But she failed to mount much of a challenge against the world number one.

Match photos

The Belgian matched her opponent up until the score was 4-4 but from there Williams won six consecutive games to take control.

Clijsters found herself repeatedly on the defensive, and her game turned erratic under the pressure of Williams' groundstrokes.

The Belgian, who committed 28 unforced errors and hit only six winners spoke of her disappointment at her performance.

If I'm playing my best tennis, I don't think anyone right now can beat me

Serena Williams

"I'm not too happy with the way I played," she said.

"My serve wasn't there at all. My returns were miserable.

"I don't think I made too many of my shots, but I figured if I could just make a few of them, then I would be all right."

Williams, unbeaten in 2003, has now won 16 matches in a row.

"If I'm playing my best tennis, I don't think anyone right now can beat me," she said after the match.

Her opponent on Saturday will be the winner of the all-American semi-final between Jennifer Capriati and Chanda Rubin, which will now start at 1730 GMT on Friday.

Williams beat Capriati in last year's final, and has already won titles this year at the Australian Open and Paris.