PARIS — Serena Williams blitzed hapless Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1 in just 46 minutes Thursday to reach her second French Open final where she'll face defending champion Maria Sharapova for the title. Sharapova earlier defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. 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. Serena, at 1.75m and 70kg, was just too powerful for Errani, the runner-up in 2012, but whose slight stature of 1.64m and 60kg, was never going to intimidate the American. Serena blasted 40 winners to Errani's two, while the Italian won just five points on the American's serve. “I told myself: ‘Serena, just concentrate' and that's what I did,” said Serena, who had been pushed to three sets and almost two hours by quarterfinal opponent Svetlana Kuznetsova. The 31-year-old will start Saturday's final as the comfortable favorite as she holds a 13-2 career lead over Sharapova with the Russian's last triumph coming nine years ago. The world No. 1 raced through the first set Thursday in just 21 minutes, firing 18 winners past the Italian fifth seed and allowing her opponent a meager two points on serve. The 26-year-old from Bologna was quickly 3-0 down in the second set, before she finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth game. It was only a brief pause in the onslaught as Serena sent down another love game for 4-1 and then broke for the fifth time to stretch out to 5-1. Errani was put out of her misery in the seventh game when Serena clinched victory on her fifth ace of the tie. Sharapova, meanwhile, survived a grueling test to reach the final for the second straight year. In a disjointed match featuring two of the biggest hitters in women's tennis, the defending champion opened the semifinal in style, then lost her way for a set and finally, on the back of a brief rain delay, resumed control. Azarenka, bidding to become the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win the Australian and French Opens in the same year, can count herself unlucky to have seen her momentum halted by the rain, but Sharapova was marginally the better player. Hradecka, Cermak win title Czech Republic pair Frantisek Cermak and Lucie Hradecka won the French Open mixed doubles title by defeating Daniel Nestor of Canada and Kristina Mladenovic of France 1-6, 6-4, 10-6. In the super tiebreaker, the Czechs won four straight points to lead 9-5 and clinched victory when Mladenovic netted a backhand volley. Bolt and Sanchez to present cups Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt will present the Coupe des Mousquetaires to the winner of the men's singles title at the French Open Saturday, the French Tennis Federation announced Thursday. The six-time Olympic champion will be the first track and field star to have the honor. The Coupe Suzanne Lenglen, which goes to the winner of the women's title, will be presented by three-time champion at Roland Garros and former world No. 1, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain. — Agencies
