Washington, April 20: Serena Williams breezily beat French teenager Alize Cornet 7-5, 6-3 at the Family Circle Cup to reach her third WTA final of the year at Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday.

The fifth-seeded American, 26, recovered from a sluggish start to broke the 18-year-old Cornet in the eighth game of the second set before holding serve to wrap up victory in one hour 24 minutes. "I definitely think I need to get out to a much faster start (in the final)," said Williams after the match. "I'm playing a tough player. Every day, I've been playing a tough player but it's the finals and everyone wants to win so I'm definitely going to have to start a little faster."

Williams, who has won titles in Bangalore and Miami this year, blasted five aces against her unseeded opponent and converted five of nine break point opportunities.The world number nine will next meet ninth seed Vera Zvonareva after the latter upset fourth-seeded fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-7 6-3 in a wildly fluctuating semifinal.

OneIndia News