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Venus Williams unstoppable

Venus Williams extended her winning streak to 15 matches after beating Monica Seles 6-0, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3 in the final of the $535,000 WTA tennis tournament in Carlsbad, California on Sunday.

It was her third consecutive singles title following triumphs at the Wimbledon championships and the Bank of the West Classic, where she beat Lindsay Davenport.

On her way to the final, the third seeded Williams got the better of Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, fifth seed Spaniard Conchita Martinez and giant-killer Amy Frazier, who had stunned Martina Hingis in the quarter-finals.

World No 6 Seles, who was seeded fourth in the tournament, looked good to pick her fourth title of the year as she recovered from a first set drubbing at love and took the second set via the tie-breaker, which saw Williams double-fault thrice. However, the American's power proved too much in the decider. Williams used a service break in the fourth game to go ahead 4-1 and from then on the writing was on the wall.

Seles broke in the seventh to pull within 4-3, but Williams returned the favour in the next game. At 5-3, Williams cashed in on her second match-point with a forehand winner along the line to romp home in one hour and 44 minutes.

Agencies