Venus books final spot

Madrid - Venus Williams won the last nine games in a dominant display as she crushed Israeli Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-0 to reach the final of the WTA Madrid Masters on Saturday, her fourth final from six events in 2010.

The American fourth seed - who will move to second on the WTA list behind her sister Serena on Monday - will be bidding for her 44th career title and third of the year when she faces either of the unseeded duo France's Aravane Rezai or Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

Williams overcame a minor niggle through an opening break of serve by the 22nd-ranked Israeli, who upset fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the opening round a week ago.

Williams improved to 12-1 this season on clay, requiring just 66 minutes to complete her rout.

The 29-year-old who turns 30 in June, stands 5-0 against Peer, having never lost a set in their series. The victory marked by 17 winners and six breaks of serve was her third of the year over Peer after Dubai and Rome.

Williams got her powerful game together from the fourth game of the contest to ease to victory, winning three love games in the first set and another in the second.

Williams will be bidding for her tenth career title on the dirt, but has claimed only two at the top WTA tournaments, in Rome 11 years ago and Charleston in 2004.

Peer failed to get past a Top-10 opponent for a sixth time in her career, but maintained her pace in winning statistics with a 27-10 record this season, best on the women's tour.