PARIS, June 6: Serena Williams blitzed hapless Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1 in just 46 minutes on Thursday to reach her second French Open final where she’ll face defending champion Maria Sharapova for the title.

The American top seed, who won her only Roland Garros crown on her last final appearance in 2002, will be playing in her 20th career Grand Slam championship showdown after stretching her current winning streak to 30 matches.

She blasted 40 winners to Errani’s two while the Italian won just five points on the American’s serve.

The 31-year-old will start Saturday’s final as the comfortable favourite as she holds a 13-2 career lead over Sharapova with the Russian’s last triumph coming nine years ago.

Maria Sharapova survived a gruelling test to reach the final for the second straight year with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 defeat of Victoria Azarenka.

In a disjointed match opposing two of the biggest hitters in women’s tennis, the defending champion opened the semi-final in style, then lost her way for a set and finally, on the back of a brief rain delay, resumed control.

Sharapova got off to a miserable start, two double faults leading to a dropped serve in the first game. She quickly regrouped and rattled off four games in a row, getting the better of Azarenka in a bruising sequence of baseline exchanges.

Results:

Woomen’s:

Semi-finals: Maria Sharapova (RUS x2) bt Victoria Azarenka (BLR x3) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4; Serena Williams (USx1) bt Sara Errani (ITAx5) 6-0, 6-1 Mixed doubles final: Lucie Hradecka/Frantisek Cermak (CZE/CZE) bt Kristina Mladenovic/Daniel Nestor (FRA/CAN x5) 1-6, 6-4, 10-6 Men’s doubles semi-finals: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA/USA x1) bt Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares (AUT/BRA x7) 6-1, 6-4; Michael Llodra/Nicolas Mahut (FRA/FRA) bt Pablo Cuevas/Horacio Zeballos (URU/ARG) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2. Wednesday’s remaining results:

Men’s doubles:

Quarter-finals: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA/USA x1) bt David Marrero/Fernando Verdasco (ESP/ESP x8) 6-3, 6-4; Alexander Peya/Bruno Soares (AUT/BRA x7) bt Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski (POL/POL x16) 1-6, 6-4, 3-1 – retired

Women’s doubles:

Quarter-finals: Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci (ITA/ITA x1) bt Varvara Lepchenko/Zheng Saisai(USA/CHN) 7-5, 6-1; Nadia Petrova/Katarina Srebotnik (RUS/SLO x3) bt Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/Lucie Safarova (RUS/CZE x11) 6-3, 6-3; Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina (RUS/RUS x4) bt Kristina Mladenovic/Galina Voskoboeva (FRA/KAZ x10) 6-4, 6-1; Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka (CZE/CZE x2) bt Cara Black/Marina Erakovic (ZIM/NZL) 2-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.—AFP