Venus Powers Past Peer Into Final

(February 19, 2010) Shahar Peer had knocked off three seeded players to reach the semifinals in her Dubai debut, but an overpowering Venus Williams was peerless in today's semifinals.

Defending champion Williams advanced to the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships final for the second straight year with today's 6-1, 6-4 victory over Peer.

Williams, who raised her record to 8-1 on the season, will face fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka in Saturday's final.

Azarenka swept seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-3, 6-4. Williams won her lone meeting with Azarenka at the Beijing Olympics two years ago.

Denied entry into Dubai last year as officials claimed her presence would be a security risk (Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates, which has no diplomatic ties with Israel), Peer beat three players she had losing records against — US Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, top seed Caroline Wozniacki and Australian Open semifinalist Li Na — but found herself rushed off the court by the harder-hitting Williams.

The No. 3 seed too charge of baseline rallies with authoritative shots in racing out to a 4-0 lead when Peer double faulted to drop serve. Williams double faulted to drop her serve in the fifth game, but retaliated by breaking back at love. Williams fired a winner down the line to close the set.

With Peer under pressure on serve, Williams broke for a 1-0 second-set lead when Peer committed her fourth double fault. Peer saved five break points to hold for 3-2. Two games later, Williams broke for 4-3 and fought off five break points to consolidate for 5-3.

Photo Credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve